AN 



EXPOSITION AND DEFENCE 



{OP 

I I TTNIVERS ALISM, 

I a 

IN A SERIES OF SERMONS 

^DILIVERED IN THE UNIVERSALIST CHURCH, BALTIMORE, SID- 
CO 

i 1 

1 REV. I. D; WILLIAMSON, D.D. 

I C 

NEW YORK: 
HENRY LYON, PUBLISHER, 

No. 7 LE EOT PLACE. 

1859. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1840, by 
P. PRICE. 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United State*, 
for the Southern Distrie of N'ew York. 




•••<> 



PREFACE. 



The circumstances which drew out the following dis- 
courses, are rather local, than general. The author is 
the only public advocate of a world's salvation, in a city 
of one hundred thousand souls. His sentiments are fre- 
quently attacked, and as often misrepresented, both in 
the pulpit and from the press. For this cause he felt 
himself called upon to lay before his congregation, and 
the public, so far as they were willing to hear, a plain 
and explicit statement of his faith, and the reasons on 
which that faith was founded. He had no intention of 
giving these labors to the public through the press, but 
prepared them for the pulpit alone. He commenced 
their delivery ; and it was soon discovered, that they at^ 
tracted more attention than his most sanguine anticipa- 
tions had led him to expect. The large house in which 
they were delivered became crowded to overflowing, and 
a general desire was expressed that they might be issued 
from the press. In accordance with this desire and the 
advice of friends, the author has consented to present 
them to the public in their present form, with scarcely 
a revision from the original copy. 

He is aware that there are already many able works 
upon the same subject before the public, in comparison 



PREFACE. 



witn which, any effort of his pen must be feeble. But 
it is hoped, that the attention which has been given 
these lectures, in that portion of the Master's vineyard 
where the author resides, will secure for them there, a 
more general circulation than could be obtained for any 
other work upon the same subject. It is hoped, also, 
that they may be the means of adding something to the 
general good, by strengthening the faith of the believers 
who are scattered abroad, and presenting to the minds 
of those " who are of the contrary part," a feeble effort 
to explain and establish the doctrines of those who re- 
joice in the great salvation. 

For the style and manner of his sermons, he makes 
no apology, his aim has been to be understood, and to 
convince, rather than please the ear with well sounded 
periods or flights of fancy ; and as for his errors, if he 
has advanced any, let the reader and the public give 
them no quarters. " If this work be of man, it will 
come to naught, but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow 
it." "Whosoever readeth let him understand," and ii 
the doctrines here taught shall be proved false, none 
will be more ready to abandon them than the public's 

humble servant 

The Author. 



CONTENTS, 



Page. 

Preface. . . ♦ • . '3 
SERMON I. 

Introductory. • •••»•? 
SERMON II. 

Unity of God. . . . 22 

SERMON III. 

Atonement. • «••«• 36 
SERMON IV. 

Death of Christ. • «#••- 64 
SERMON V. 

Punishment. • « • ■ 66 

SERMON VI. 

Forgiveness of Sins, * t 80 

SERMON VII. 
Duration of Punishmeat. • • « • 96 

SERMON VIII. 
Judgement. « • Ul 

1* 



vi 



0 

CONTENTS. 



SEHMON IX. 

The Resurrection. • • 

SERMON X. 
Destruction of Death. • 

SERMON XI. 
Nature of Salvation. • • 

SERMON XII. 
Repentance. • 

SERMON XIII. 
Faith. 

SERMON XIV. 
Influence of Universalism. 



SERMON XV. 
Decision of character, & Religious doty. 



AN 

EXPOSITION AND DEFENCE 

OF 

UNIVERSALISM. 



SERMON I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

" May "we know what this new doctrine whereof thou speakest is? Foi 
thou bringest certain strange things to our ears ; we would know therefore! 
what these things mean." Acts xvii. 19, 20. 

The hearer will undoubtedly recognise this, as the 
language of certain philosophers of Athens, addressed 
to the Apostle Paul. At Thessalonica, the Jews raised 
a tumult and drove him out of the city. Departing 
thence, he went to Berea, and there preached the good 
word of the kingdom, with great success. Thither, 
however, the Jews followed him, and, " stirred up the 
people against him," until he was no longer safe in that 
city. Accordingly, he departed, and went to Athens, 
and there waited for his companions, Silas and Timo- 
theus to join him. He was now, in the midst of the 
most opulent and powerful city of Greece— a city, dis- 
tinguished alike for the military talents, learning and 
eloquence of its inhabitants. There, the schools, pro- 
fessors and philosophers of Greece, were congregated, 



8 



INTRODUCTORY. 



and there, temples and altars were reared to every false 
God of whose name the people had heard. The historian 
informs us, that "Paul's spirit was stirred within him, 
when he saw the whole city given to idolatry, there 
fore, disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and 
with devout persons, and in the market, daily, with such 
as met him." In these disputations, he encountered cer- 
tain of the Epicureans and Stoics, and they brought him 
to Areopagus, the place where they held their courts of 
justice, and there, they addressed him in the language 
of the text. " May we know what this new doctrine 
whereof thou speakest is? for thou bringest certain 
strange things to our ears ; we would know therefore 
what these things mean ; for they spent their time in 
nothing else, but to tell, or to hear some new thing." 

I cannot forbear the remark here, that although these 
inquirers were actuated by nothing better than an idle 
curiosity, in making this request, yet their conduct was 
far more commendable, than that of those who condemn 
a man and his religion, without first giving him a hearing 
in his own behalf. Paul gladly embraced the opportunity 
thus afforded him of entering upon a defence of the gos- 
pel. He preached to them, " God that made the world, 
and all that dwell therein," pointed out to them the folly 
of their idolatrous practices, and appealed to them in be- 
half of Jesus and the resurrection, with such energy and 
power, that " some believed," and others said, "we will 
hear thee again of this matter." 

I presume the hearer has already anticipated the use 
the speaker intends to make of this text. He stands 
before you, the advocate and the only public advocate 
in this large city, and even in this State, of the doctrine 
of impartial and efficient grace — a doctrine, which to 
some of his hearers, may be both new and strange. He 



INTRODUCTORY. 9 

doubts not, that some of his auditors have turned in 
hither, and he trusts with good motives, for the purpose 
of learning what this new doctrine is ; and they would 
giadly know what these things mean. The speaker has 
no sentiments to conceal, and if his hearers will mani- 
fest a good share of that patience which characterized the 
man of Uz, he will proceed in all frankness and simplicity 
to lay before them his views of the economy of his 
father's grace. He asks, and he feels confident that he 
will receive from this enlightened and respectable au- 
dience, a candid and patient hearing, and if in the end, 
he fails of producing conviction that his sentiments are 
true, the hearer shall, at least, have it in his power to 
give a more enlightened judgement against them. He 
speaks for himself only, and is alone responsible for 
what he utters ; at the same time, the hearer is at liberty 
to conclude that in these views, he mainly agrees with 
the great body of the denomination to which he is at- 
tached. These preliminaries being settled, we come 
now to lay before you the most prominent features of 
our faith. These are 

I. The existence of one only living and true God. 

This supreme object of our devotions, we believe, to be 
possessed of every possibly great and glorious attribute 
and perfection, that can command our love or invite our 
praise. In him is Tower, which knows no control — 
Wisdom, which never errs, but sees with infallible ex- 
actness, " the end from the beginning, and from ancient 
times the thing that is not yet done " — Mercy, which 
melts in pity o'er the woes of man — Truth, which can- 
not lie — Holiness, without spot or blemish — Goodness, 
unchanging as God and impartial as the light of heaven, 
and Justice, which rewards the virtuous and punishes 
the vicious, according o those eternal principles of ree 



10 



INTRODUCTORY. 



titude and equity, wnich are the same yesterday, to-day 
and for ever. This is, with us, the foundation of all 
religious truth, the sure and steadfast corner-stone, on 
which the whole superstructure of the christian temple 
rests. The evidences of the existence of such a God, 
meet us on every page of nature's ample volume, ever 
open before us. We read his name, stamped with the 
broad and legible impress of his own hand, on all the 
surrounding glories of creation. We discover the won- 
ders of his Power, in this " ponderous globe of earth, 
self balanced on her centre hung," and in the distant 
stars, that wheel their endless circles in awful majesty 
through the infinity of space above and around us. We 
trace the footsteps of his Wisdom, in the wonderful 
order and harmony that pervade all the operations of 
nature's vast, and complicated machinery. We see his 
Goodness, in every "changing season, as it rolls;" and 
the teeming earth and bending heavens around us bear 
their testimony to his love. We mark the rules of his 
Justice, in the infallible certainty with which punish- 
ment, sooner or later, overtakes the guilty, and in the 
rich and sweet reward, that comes down upon the virtu- 
ous and the obedient. Thus we learn that there is a 
God, and we count it no credulity, to say, and to believe, 
in all its length and breadth, that the stupendous fabric 
of the universe was reared by the hand of a wise and 
powerful God; and we discover, neither reason, philoso- 
phy nor tru ! h, in the mind of that misguided man, who 
hath " said in his heart, that there is no God." We are 
content to say, in the language of the sacred penman, 
"Lo! God hath made us, and not we ourselves:" and 
we rejoice to know, that in him power never degenerates 
into tyranny, wisdom into cunning, mercy into weak- 
ness, nor justice into cruelty, but all blend, centre and 



INTRODUCTORY. 



il 



harmonize in changeless and immortal goodness, We 
believe that this God has established a moral govern- 
ment in the world— that he takes cognizance of human 
conduct, rewards the virtuous and punishes the vicious 
— that he has made a revelation of himself and his 
government to man — and that he has so arranged the 
order of his providence, that all 

" Conspires to Ms supreme control 
To universal good." 

I must not here omit to remark, that the Lord our 
God, is one. Sole and supreme author, and governor of 
all things, he has no equal to dispute his sway, no rivals 
to claim a portion of the homage due to him alone. We 
can acknowledge no other being as God, but him alone* 
Hence with the sentiments of the Polytheist who be- 
lieves in many gods, the Pantheist who believes that 
all is god, and the Trinitarian, who believes in three 
Gods in one, and one in three — we have no fellowship 
or communion. To us there is ONE GOD, the Father of 
all, and besides him there is none else. Thus the Scrip- 
tures teach and thus does reason decide. The heathen 
indeed, had a multitude of gods, but the Apostles and 
Prophets abjured the whole long catalogue of Pagan 
divinities, and worshipped with singleness of heart, the 
one and indivisible I AM ; and it would in our judgement 
be as easy to prove, that these Patriarchs worship- 
ped thirty thousand gods with the Romans, as that 
they acknowledged three beings of equal power and 
glory. 

The doctrine of the simple and undivided unity of 
God, is no new or strange thing under the sun. It is as 
old as that Gospel whose author bowed at the throne 
of his Father in prayer, thereby acknowledging him a* 



.12 



INTRODUCTORY. 



supreme, and whose tongue confessed, saying, " My 
Father is greater than all." It is as old as the law, which 
was given in the midst of the thunders of mount Sinai ; 
for there, God proclaimed his name as the one only liv- 
ing and true God. It is as old as Abraham, for to him, 
God said, "I am God and there is none else." It is as 
old as Adam, for to him God manifested himself as the 
one supreme. It is as old, yea older, than creation, for ere 
the morning stars sang together, or even the spirit of 
the Almighty walked forth upon the dark waters to 
rouse this universe into being, even then, God undivided 
and alone, dwelt in the changeless eternity of his own 
presence, and angels and archangels bowed in ceaseless 
wonder before him, and worshipped him, as the sole and 
only object of adoration and praise. It ought not there- 
fore, to be considered as something new or strange, that 
we should worship one God, and one alone. 

But I pass this, for my object, in this discourse, is not 
so much to prove the truth of our faith, as to tell you 
what that faith is. The proof is reserved for our future 
labors. 

II. Our faith recognises, Jesus Christ as the son of 
God, and the Saviour of the world. 

You will, of course, have concluded from the remarks 
already made, that however highly we may esteem the 
character of Jesus, we cannot recognise him as the self 
existent and supreme God. He himself claimed no 
such exaltation, but uniformly acknowledged the su- 
premacy of God, not only in words, but in the fact that 
he worshipped him, and prayed to him, as a superior 
being. 

He confessed, that he was sent of God, and he claimed 
no power that he did not receive from God. " I can of 
my own self do nothing," was his constant assertion. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



13 



He claimed no higher title than the humble one, " the 
son of man," and if he claimed no more for himself, it 
is a misguided disciple that claims it for him. Instead 
therefore, of "giving the glory of God to another," we 
maintain, that Jesus of Nazareth was a created, and a 
dependent being, deriving all his wonderful powers from 
God. We are content to view him as did Peter, when 
he said, " he was a man approved of God, by signs and 
miracles, and wonders which God did by him, in the 
midst of the people;" or Paul, when he said, "There 
is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the 
man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all, 
to be testified in due time." And if you ask me if he 
was no more than a mau ? My answer is, in the lan- 
guage of scripture, "He was made in all things, like unto 
the brethren," but was "anointed with the oil of glad- 
ness above his fellows," and endued with power greater 
than any other man. " We see Jesus, who was made 
a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, 
crowned with glory and honor, that he by the grace of 
God should taste death for every man." 

Upon the nature of Christ's mission and work on earth,, 
it is proper, that I should speak at some length, under 
-y this head. Jesus came not to placate the wrath of in- 
censed and outraged Omnipotence. The heathens wor- 
shipped gods whose favor must be propitiated and 
whose wrath must be appeased by sacrifices and blood. 
But the radiant bow of heaven's immortal Lord and 
King, was never yet shrouded in a cloud so dark, that 
his own mercy and love, could not shine with brightness 
upon the world. The mission of Christ, is not presented 
in the scriptures, as having originated in, or as having 
been rendered necessary on account of the wrath of God. 
On the contrary, it is uniformly set forth as originating' 



14 



INTRODUCTORY. 



m God, and as being the highest testimony of his love* 
M God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten 
son." " Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that 
he loved us, and sent his son to dis> for us." These are 
the teachings of the scriptures, and they certainly forbid 
the idea that it was any part of the object of a Saviour's 
mission, to save men from the unmerciful wrath of God. 
Neither did Testis come to save from the just punish- 
ment of sin, by satisfying the divine justice, and suffering 
the penalty due the sinner in his room and stead. This 
is evident from the fact, that God himself has declared 
the principle of condemning the just, and justifying the 
wicked, to be an abomination in his sight ; and of course, 
he could not do the abominable thing. It is evident also, 
from the consideration, that justice cannot be satisfied 
with the sufferings of the innocent. When a law is 
transgressed, it is out upon the transgressor, and ten 
thousand rivers of innocent blood, can never satisfy the 
claims of that law. It asks the blood of the guilty, and 
of the guilty alone, and it is foul disgrace to the law of 
God, to represent it, as a blind Juggernaut, thirsting for 
blood, and equally well pleased whether that blood flows 
from the veins of the guilty, or gushes from the heart 
of the innocent, so that the required quantum of blood 
is shed, One of the clearest principles of justice, is that 
which forbids the infliction of the punishment of the 
guilty upon the head of the innocent, and there is no 
justice in Heaven, or earth, that can be satisfied by the 
-sufferings of the innocent for the guilty. 

The position assumed, is further evinced in the fact, 
that God has said, "Every man shall suffer for his own 
sins" and has and does still practice, upon the principle 
of punishing the guilty, which he would have no right 
to do, if justice had lost its c aims, in consequence of 



INTRODUCTORY". 



15 



having been fully satisfied by the death and sufferings 
of Christ. 

I may at some future time take this matter up, at 
large, At present I merely hint at it, in order to lead 
your minds to a just view of another prominent and pe- 
culiar principle of our faith which teaches, that " God 
will by no means clear the guilty," but will inflict upon 
every soul of man, the just punishment of his sins, and 
there is no escape. Thus saith the scriptures, "He 
that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong that he 
hath done, and there is no respect of persons." " Though 
hand join in hand, the wicked shall not go unpun- 
ished." 

Now, it is a remarkable fact, that while the ceaseless 
cry is raised against us, that we deny all punishment 
for sin, we are the only denomination who believe that 
all sin will be punished. I know others believe, that 
some sinners will be fully punished, but they also believe, 
that many will escape the penalty of the law. They 
do indeed tell us, that all men deserve an endless hell, 
and would receive it, if justice were done ; but they 
have all some spiritual insolvent act in the shape of an 
atonement, or forgiveness, or repentance, by which the 
vilest sinner may escape, and cheat justice of its dues. 
Set it down, as one of the peculiar doctrines of Univer- 
salism, that no man can, by any possibility, escape a 
just punishment. for his sins. We believe in the for- 
giveness or removal of sin, not in the remission of pun- 
ishment, and neither forgiveness, nor atonement, nor re- 
pentance, nor any thing else, can step in between the 
sinner and the penalty of the violated law. 

The dogma of endless wo, we reject as unmerciful, 
unjust and cruel, a penalty which a just God never did 
and never can annex to his law. It was not therefore 



16 



INTRODUCTORY. 



necessary lor Christ to come into the world to save men 
from a future endless hell, as a penalty of the divine 
law, for the good and sufficient reason, that no such 
penalty was ever annexed to that law. I am not 
speaking at random, but I know whereof I affirm, when 
I say that no living man can take up the Bible, and find 
a place where God gave man a law and annexed to it 
the penalty of endless misery. Hence, I say, that man 
needed not to be saved from such an evil, for the best of 
all possible reasons, that in the economy of God, he 
never was exposed to any such calamity. 

I have now told you, what Christ did not come for; 
will you hear from the blessed Saviour himself, what was 
the object of his mission on earth ? He says, " To this 
end was I born, and for this cause came I into the earth, 
that I might bear witness to the truth." Now the wit- 
ness does not go into court to make truth. He goes 
there, to testify to what is already true. So Jesus in 
our view, came not to make any thing true, that was 
not so before ; but he was the faithful and true witness, 
who came to make known the truth, " as it was in the 
beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end." 

He came to reveal the character and the purpose of 
God, and hence, near the close of his ministry he said, 
" I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do, 
I have declared thy name unto them which thou gavest 
me out of the world." 

The fact was, that man was ignorant without hope 
and without God in the world. He was ignorant of 
himself, of his own nature and destiny, ignorant of God, 
and his purposes of grace, and devoid of confidence in 
the care and protection of his heavenly father. He 
bowed before stocks and stones, and said " these be my 
gods." He tore his flesh— he tortured his body — he 



INTRODUCE JRY. 



17 



cast himself in the flood— he devoted nimself to a liv- 
ing martyrdom, and burned the bodies of his children in 
the flame, to appease the wrath and secure the favor of 
his gods, and was well pleased, if by these rites he 
secured a trembling hope of safety for a day or an hour. 

The grave yawned at his feet and there was no light 
to shine upon its darkness. Man shuddered as he 
thought that he must go down to feed the worm, and 
sleep in eternal silence in the tomb — or if perchance, 
the spirit survived the shock of death, there was dangei 
that he would be the companion of demons and the 
sport of fiends through a long eternity. Jesus came a 
light into the world. He tore away the vail which had 
so long obscured the face of the excellent glory, and 
revealed to a wondering world the character of God, in 
all its matchless beauty, as the friend and father, who 
fed the fowls of the air — decked the lillies of the field, 
and watched the falling sparrow, and who would more 
abundantly take care of man, the last and noblest work 
of his hand. He also brought life and immortality to 
light, and bore his testimony to the resurrection of the 
dead ; and to prove that his witness was true, descended 
into the grave — rose from its power, and ascended on 
high, to receive gifts for men, " yea for the rebellious 
also that the Lord God might dwell among us." Thus, 
he bore witness to the truth, and labored to save man 
from ignorance, from sin, from doubt and fear, and from 
death itself by the power of the resurrection. To this 
end was he born, and for this cause came he into the 
world, u that he might bear witness to the truth ;" and 
because this truth is destined to prevail over all oppo- 
sition, and save man universally, in prospect and fruition, 
therefore, is he, what we believe him to be, " the ^aviour 
of the world." This brings me to say that we believe, 



18 



INTRODUCTORY. 



III. In the resurrection of all men from the dead, and 
in the ultimate holiness and happiness of the whole 
human family. 

This is, with us, the crowning excellency of the Gos- 
pel — a theme on which we ever dwell with most lively 
satisfaction and joy. To this grand consummation of the 
divine government, all the attributes and perfections of 
God, and all the principles of the divine government are 
tending ; and the sentiment thus shadowed forth in these, 
is repeated in clearer and more emphatic tones in the 
revelation which God has made. 

The difference between us and other denominations, 
in regard to the resurrection of the dead is simply this. 
Others believe that men will be raised from the dead 
morally in the same state, or condition, in which they 
left this world. Thus, if a man dies a sinner, they be- 
lieve that he will be raised up from the dead a sinner, 
with all his evil propensities and passions about him, 
and he will then receive the reward of his doings. To 
him the resurrection will be an endless and bitter curse, 
inasmuch as it will introduce him to a state of untold 
and immortal suffering. Our views of the resurrection 
of the dead differ from this. We think that God has a 
higher, holier and better object in view, in the resur- 
rection, than that of conferring an immortality upon sin 
and suffering. We believe that the lusts of the flesh, and 
all the evil passions that distract and torment man on 
earth, will be left in the earth where they originated, 
that God will not transplant them to another world to 
nourish them there. We believe that man shall be raised 
from the dead, as the apostle said he should be, " im- 
mortal, " "incorruptible," "glorious," and "heavenly," 
and in the " image " of the *isen Redeemer — that he 
shall be, as the Saviour said he should be, in the resurrec- 



INTRODUCTOR V 



19 



tion, " equal unto the angels," neither shall he die any 
more, but be a child of God, as he is a child of the 
resurrection, and that the future life, shall be to all, a 
ceaseless blessing, coming from the fullness of a father's 
grace. Taere, sin shall be finished and transgression 
shall end — there, nc storms of passion shall rise, no wave 
of sorrow disturb the waters of that peaceful river, 
which flows pure as amber, and clear as crystal, from 
the throne of God on high. The hand of a father's 
love shall wipe the last tear from the eye of weeping 
humanity, and his soothing voice hush to silence the 
last sigh that shall escape from the pained heart of a 
creature of God. There, all shall be holy, and happy 
because they are holy ; and there shall be no note of 
discord to mar the harmony of creation's jubilee. Such 
is the consummation of the government of God as we 
behold it. I ask you to compare these views of God 
and his government, with a system which conducts us 
on to the future world, and thus leaves us with a frag- 
ment saved while countless millions mourn — a system 
which makes the universe itself a huge reservoir of tears, 
a theatre of endless rebellion, cursing and blasphemy — 
and when you have made the comparison, tell me in the 
name of reason, which is most worthy of a God of in- 
finite goodness. 

I have now given you an outline of a doctrine, which 
to some of you maybe new; but new or old, so we be- 
lieve, and so we preach. I have only to add, that this 
doctrine is in reality nothing new under the sun. God 
himself proclaimed it unto Abraham saying, " In thy 
seed shall ail nations be blessed." Paul says expressly, 
that himself, and his faithful coadjutors in the ministry, 
labored and suffered reproach, because they trusted in 
the living God who was " the S*> '/iour of all men, especi- 



2: 



INTRODUCTORY. 



ally of them that believed," and Peter afhtms, thai 
the "restitution of all things" had been spoken by 
the mouth of all the holy prophets, since the world 
began. Not one had failed of bearing testimony to this 
truth. 

Among the apostolic fathers, John the bishop of 
Jerusalem, Gregory Naziazen, Clement of Alexandria, 
and the far famed Origen, were the open and avowed 
advocates of this doctrine. In fact, it was proclaimed 
with all boldness in the christian church, during the 
firsi three hundred years of its existence, and it was 
never found out to be a heresy, until about the year 550, 
when it was gravely, and for the first time condemned 
by a council of bishops and cardinals, who to say the 
least, had as much of the wisdom of the world, as they 
had of the spirit of Jesus. But in every age, from that 
day to this, there have been those who have seen and 
testified, that " the father sent the son to be the saviour 
of the world." Among the reformers, Zuinglius believed 
it, and it is thought that the illustrious Melancthon 
himself was not far from the kingdom. In latter days, 
and in the popular church many have believed. Arch- 
bishop Tillotson, Burnet, Law, the author of that inesti- 
mable work " A Serious Call," Dr. Samuel Clarke, the 
Chevalier Ramsey, Dr. Phillip Doddridge, Bishop Thomas 
Norton, John Prior Estlin, Thomas Belsham, Dr. Priestley, 
Ann Letitia Barbauld, the inimitable poet, and a host of 
others, whose names are illustrious in the church, have 
been believers in this doctrine. 

In our own country, it has had its advocates- The 
celebrated Dr. Rush believed it, and the sagf I-ianklm 
was not far from it. The beloved father of )f $ country, 
was the friend of Murray, and Greene wl \ gallantly 
fought by his side, hung wi'h rapture upor he preach- 



INTRODUCTORY. 



21 



ing of the only herald of a world's saivation, then in 
America. 

I name not these things because they prove aught, 
one way or the other : but I do it, simply to show you, 
that it is not, as some suppose, a new doctrine, invented 
within the last half century, and believed onlv bv thd 
rash and inconsiderate. 

But whether it be new or old I have given you a hasty 
sketch of its most prominent features ; and in my subse- 
quent lectures, I intend to give you the proof of its truth. 
Appealing to your candor and reason, and to the sacred 
word of eternal truth. I will lav the matter before you, 
and I only ask you to approve or reject, as your own 
judgement, enlightened by revelation and unwarped by 
prejudice or superstition, shall decide, and of the result 
. have n > fears. 



22 



UNITY OF GOD. 



SERMON II. 

THE UNITY OF GOD. 

*' For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man 
Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due tine. 

I Timothy, ii. 5, 6. 

In a previous lecture, I gave you a statement of the doc- 
trine of Universal Salvation, and promised that I would 
lay before you, in some subsequent discourses, the evi- 
dence on which we rest the defence of our faith. In 
prosecuting this work, it is proper for me to remark, in 
the outset, that there are several things, which we hold 
in common with all other denominations, and upon these 
it is not necessary that I should dwell. So far as the 
object of this discussion is concerned, these things may 
as well be taken for granted, as I intend to insist mainly 
on those points, which are peculiar to us, or in which 
we differ from others. 

I gave you the existence of a God of infinite wisdom, 
power, goodness, mercy, justice and truth, as the first 
article in our faith, and the foundation of all religious 
truth. I need not say, that this is a doctrine which is 
advocated by all professors of Christianity of every 
name, and it surely is not necessary for me to argue that 
matter, before an assembly of Christians. 

I take it for granted then, in this discussion, that there 
is a God, and on that point I shall have no dispute with 
any Christian. But when I come to say, that God is 
one and undivided md that Jesus of Nazareth, was a 



UNITY OF GOD. 



23 



created being, dependent upon God for all his powers, 
I shall be met by those who contend, that God is triune, 
in nature, and that Jesus was the very God. The ob- 
ject of this discourse is to examine this question, and 
give you the reasons, which induce us to believe that 
there is one God, in one person, and that Jesus the medi- 
ator, was what the apostle calls him in the text, the 
man Christ Jesus. 

In regard to the simple unity of God, the teachings 
of nature are not as clear and explicit, as upon many 
other points in theology. There is, however, a unity of 
design and purpose, and an order and harmony of opera* 
tion, in the works of creation, evidently at war with the 
idea, that there are many superior beings to govern them. 
From the wonderful order and harmony of nature, the 
presumption is most unquestionable, that there is but 
one supreme God ; but whether that God exists in a 
unity or trinity of persons, nature and reason cannot 
decide. The whole matter must rest upon revelation, 
and that revelation must of course be examined, in the 
light of that reason, which God has given us, and to 
which a revelation alone could be made. It is proper 
to observe here, that according to the soundest principles 
of reason, the question ought to be, whether there are 
three Gods, or one ? The trinitarian has no right to 
assume, that there are both three Gods, and one; for 
that is not possible. If he proves that the Father is 
God, and that the Son is God, and that the Holy Ghost 
is God, and that these are separate and distinct persons, 
all equal in power and glory ; then, I have an unques- 
tionable right to hold him to the position, that there are 
three Gods. If the scriptures teach this, then they teach 
that there are three Gods ; and I cannot allow a man to 
attempt an evasion of the difficulty, by saying, that 



24 



UNITY OF GOD. 



these three are one ; and that there is but one God aftei 
all. If it be meant, that Father, Son and Holy Ghost, 
are only different names of the same being; that is 
another matter, but if it be contended, that each of these, 
is a separate and distinct person, and each verily God, 
then I hold you to the position, that there are three 
Gods. To say that the Father is God, and the Son is 
God, and the Holy Ghost is God, and yet, there are not 
three Gods, but one God, and then attempt to escape by 
calling it a mystery, is but a miserable mode of argu- 
ment. I maintain, that there is no mystery about it, 
but it is a direct and palpable contradiction. The truth 
is, there are either three Gods, or else, there is but one, 
and no man has a right to claim that there are three 
persons, separate and distinct, each very God of very 
God, and yet, that there is but one God, and think to 
escape, by taking a leap into the darkness of mystery , 
for I insist, it is not a mystery, but a contradiction. 

I hope these remarks may be borne in mind, and the 
hearer will remember, that the true question is not, 
whether there are three Gods, and yet one God, but it 
is, whether there is more than one God, at all. 

Now, for the law and the testimony upon that point 
If we speak not according to the divine word, it is be- 
cause there is no light in us. In the scriptures of the 
old Testament, we read of many of the wonderful works 
of God ; and we have presented to us the teachings of 
the patriarchs and prophets. There we read of the 
God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and this same 
being is represented as forbidding the people to worship 
any other God but him, for he repeats frequently, and 
with peculiar emphasis, "I am God and besides me, 
there is none else." Now, I should like some man, 
well skilled in the mystery of the trinity, as it is called, 



UNITY OF GOD. 25 



to inform me which of the three persons it was, tha? 
spoke this? This is a very important matter, because 
there is some being who speaks here, and claims to be 
Ood, and not only does he claim to be God, but he de- 
nies that there is any other God besides himself We 
ask then, which of the three persons of the Trinity was 
it, that claimed to be God alone ? If it was God the 
eternal Father, why then, he is God, and neither of the 
other two can be God. If it be said, that it was neither 
of the persons of the Trinity, but the triune God, Father, 
Son and Holy Ghost who spoke ; I beg to inquire how 
we know that fact ? The book says, it was the God of 
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, who claimed to be the 
only God, and it affirms further saying, " Hear oh ! Israel, 
the Lord thy God is one Lord," and it is as silent as the 
grave about a Trinity. But who was the God of Abra- 
ham? Was it Jesus of Nazareth ? Or was it the third 
person of the Trinity ? Or was it the eternal Father 
of all ? You know well enough, the answer that must 
be given to this question. Abraham worshipped the 
one only living and true God, and all the patriarchs and 
prophets, bowed with singleness of heart before him, 
as the one and indivisible I AM ; and from all their 
writings and actions, it does not seem that they ever 
dreamed of his having an equal in earth, or heaven. 
During four thousand years, God was worshipped by 
patriarchs and prophets, as one only living and true 
God, and the name of a Trinity was unknown. 

There is something inexplicable about this matter, 
which the trinitarian would do well to consider. It is 
admitted, on all hands, that the Jews worshipped the 
true God ; and yet, they never prayed to Jesus, nor to the 
Holy Ghost, but always addressed all their prayers and 
praises to God. One of two things must be true : either 
3 



26 



UNITY OF GOD. 



they were right, an 1 worshipped God as one and undi- 
vided, or they were wrong and worshipped they knew 
not what. If they were right, then Jesus of Nazareth 
is not tin- very God, for they worshipped him not, and 
there is no other God but him that the patriarchs adored. 
If they were wrong, then God never made a revelation 
to the Jews, and the whole of the Old Testament is a 
fable, and the New, also, must fall, for Jesus built his 
Gospel upon the foundation of the prophets, and taught 
men to worship the same God that Abraham worshipped. 
The trinitarian may take which horn of the dilemma 
he chooses. One or the other he must have, for to prove 
that either Jesus of Nazareth, or the Holy Ghost, was 
worshipped by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, is out of the 
question. 

The New Testament writers are as clear and explicit 
upon this point, as they of the Old covenant. " There is 
one God," saith our text ; and again says the Apostle, 
" Unto us, there is one God, the father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ." Now I ask, who was this one God, the Father 
of our Lord Jesus Christ ? Was it the Lord Jesus Christ 
himself? Or was it the third person in the Trinity ? Or 
was it a being composed of the three ? The answer to 
these questions is too obvious to need repeating. The 
God of the Apostle, was the God of Abraham, and he 
knew no other God. This God, was the father of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, and hence could not be Jesus him- 
self, unless a being can be his own father. 

There is another remarkable fact, which should not be 
forgotten. It is, that Jesus himself acknowledged this 
same God and worshipped him, and prayed to him. 
Now, if he had been the very God himself, he would 
not have worshipped, or prayed, unless you suppose he 
worshipped h it lself, and prayed to himself, which is 



UNITY" OF GOD. 



21 



absurd. I know men strive to evaile this by saying, 
tnat he was God and man both, and that it was the 
human nature that prayed. But this is darkening coun- 
sel by words without knowledge. If Jesus was God 
and man both, and if sometimes the man spoke, and 
sometimes the God, by what rule, I pray you, are we to 
know when the man spoke, and when the God was 
heard ? It is trifling with scripture to interpret it after 
this manner. If when Jesus prayed he was merely 
talking to himself, or if his human nature was praying 
to his divine nature, why in the name of wonder did 
not the historian say so, instead of informing us, that he 
kneeled down and prayed to his God, just as any other 
man would, and leading us from his words, and acts, to 
the conclusion, that he was praying to a superior being, 
whom he adored as his father and his God ? If Jesus 
was the very God why did he say, that he could do 
nothing of himself, and that his father was greater than 
all ? If he was the very God, and the equal of the All- 
wise, why did he affirm, that he, the Son, did not know 
the day or the hour of the coming tribulation ? Yea, 
why did he say he could pray to his Father and he 
would give him twelve legions of angels? Or why did 
he in the agony of the cross, say, "My God, why hast 
thou forsaken me ?" Had he forsaken himself? These 
are questions that the trinitarian would do well to 
answer: and until he does so, and that satisfactorily, I 
shall hold with the apostle, that there is one God. and 
that God is the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and not 
the Lord Jesus himself. 

I am aware, that there are certain passages of scrip- 
ture, which are thought to teach, that Jesus claimed to 
be the very God. It would be impossible for me, in a 
discourse, to go into an examination of all these pas- 



28 



UNITY OF GOD. 



sages. This wcrk would require a volume, instead of 
a sermon. The most I can do in the limits I have pre- 
scribed for myself is, to select one or two of the strongest 
of these passages, and if I show, that these fail of pro- 
ving the point in hand, leave you to the reasonable con- 
clusion, that the other and less important passages will 
fail also. Among the passages quoted to prove the su- 
preme divinity of Christ, I know of none which is relied 
upon with more confidence, than the words of the Sa- 
viour recorded in John x. 30, " I and my Father are one." 
I judge, however, that a little attention to the context, 
will satisfy the hearer, that even this text, when properly 
understood, falls far short of proving the absolute deity 
of Jesus. I presume it will be admitted, that Jesus 
knew as well the meaning of his own language as we 
can know it, and that his explanation will be perfectly 
satisfactory. It so happens, that he was called in ques- 
tion for that very language, by those that heard it, on 
the spot, and he explained his meaning in a manner that 
would have been satisfactory to any but bigots, who 
were determined at all hazards to condemn him. When 
he said, " I and my Father are one," the Jews took up 
stones again, and were about to stone him. Eut he said 
unto them, many good works have I showed you from 
my Father ; for which of those works do ye stone me ? 
" They answered and said, for a good work, we stone 
thee not, but for blasphemy, and because that thou being 
a man, makest thyself God." Now I wish you to ob- 
serve, that the Jews understood this passage as men 
now understand it. They thought he claimed to be God, 
and therefore they accused him of blasphemy. Mark 
the explanation that he gave. He answered them, "Is 
it not written in your law, I said ye are Gods ? If he 
called them gods untc ivhom the word of God came 



VNITY OF GOD. 



29 



and the scriptures cannot be broken, say ye of nim, 
whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the 
world, thou blasphemest, because I said, I am the son 
of God?" The drift of the argument is this. He did 
not say he was God. He only said he was the son of 
God. In their law, those were called gods unto whom 
the word of God came. When they read in their law, 
" ye are gods," they understood it well enough ; and 
Jesus wished them to do him the justice to understand 
him in the same manner ; for he claimed to be God, only 
in that subordinate sense, in which their law called those 
gods to whom the word of God came. This was the 
explanation that Jesus himself gave. It seems, how- 
ever, that the Jews were not satisfied with it, but still 
contended that he blasphemed. There are some people 
now, who are not satisfied with his explanation, but 
they will have it that the Jews were right, when they 
accused him of making himself a God. 

Look at the subject in another light for a moment. 
Jesus said, " I and my Father are one." The Jews took 
up stones and were about to stone him ; and when he 
asked them, why they went about to stone him, they 
said, " because thou, being a man makest thyself God." 
Now if Jesus really was God, and meant so to teach the 
people, why did he not assert the fact in the face of his 
foes? Why did he not tell them, Sirs, I am God; and 
if I have made myself God, I have only told the truth, 
and claimed to be what I am ? Was he awed by his 
catmies, so that he dared not maintain in their presence 
the position that he had assumed? I will not believe 
it. The truth was he did not claim to be God, and 
when the Jews accused him of making himself God, he 
showed them from their own scriptures, that he had 
done no such thing. I ask again ; did he prevaricate 
3* 



30 



UNITY OF GOD. 



here, and recede from his position ? or did he give the 
true meaning of his words? If he gave the true intent 
of his words, then the Jews charged him falsely, when 
they said, he made himself God ; and it is settled for ever 
by his own authority, that in all his conversation with 
the Jews, he claimed to be God in no other sense, than 
that in which their law called those gods, to whom the 
word of God came. 

That he intended not to claim an absolute equality, 
or identity with God when he said, "I and my Father 
are one," is further evinced, in the fact, that he prayed 
that his disciples might be one even as he and his Father 
were one. " Holy Father keep through thine own name 
those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, 
as we are one." It is therefore evident, that he claimed 
no other oneness with God, than that which it was pos- 
sible for a number of men to possess with one another. 

The believers could be one in spirit, one in purpose, 
and one in heart. Jesus had no will but that of God. 
His meat and his drink was to do the will of God, and 
the spirit of the Lord dwelt richly in him. In this sense 
and this only, he and his Father were one. I shall not 
nave time, in this discourse, to examine any other pas- 
sages of this kind, nor do I conceive such a work neces- 
sary. If the passage I have had under consideration, does 
not prove the identity of Jesus with God, I apprehend 
it will be difficult to find one that does, and I therefore 
rest it here. 

We believe in one, and but one God, because the 
eternal Father says he is God and there is none else — 
because the patriarchs and prophets worshipped him, 
as one and undivided, during a period of four thousand 
years — because Jesus himself worshipped him, as the 
Great Supreme, and confessed his supremacy by praying 



UNITY OF GOD. 



31 



to him as the only living God, and father of all — and 
because the apostles and disciples of Jesus, acknow- 
ledged but one God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

We believe, that Jesus of Nazareth was " a man ap- 
proved of God, by signs and miracles and wonders, 
which God did by him, in the midst of the people " — 
because the apostles called him so — and because he 
himself said he was the son of man, and prayed like 
a man, spoke like a man, felt like a man, was tempted 
like a man, and at last died like a man, and was raised 
from the dead to prove that man would rise. His office 
was that of mediator between God and man. 

A mediator is a middle person, who stands between 
two persons that are strangers to make them acquainted 
with one another. Man was estranged from his God* 
He had wandered far from his ways, and is described as 
"having no hope, and without God in the world." It 
was the business of the mediator to reveal the true God* 
and make man acquainted with his father, and thus 
bring him back to that allegiance which he owed to him 
as God over all, blessed and blessing for evermore. But 
of this I may say more at another time. 

The doctrine of the simple unity of God, is of great 
importance. It has a vast influence upon the spirituality 
and the sincerity of divine worship. The man who 
looks upon God, as one and undivided, can bow in the 
singleness of his heart before him, and worship in spirit 
and in truth. 

Not so the man who worships a God who is veiled 
in an incomprehensible mystery. If he adores the jus- 
tice of God, it is at the expense of a Saviour's mercy ; 
or if he magnifies the riehes of a Saviour's compassion, 
it is at the expense of a Father's justice, and thus the 
mind is li ft to vascilate upon the question, which among 



$2 



UNITS' OF GOD. 



the three is most worthy ; and the affections are not 
easily fixed supremely upon either. Thus the flame of 
love supreme to God, which ought to burn with bright- 
ness upon the altar of the heart, is quenched, and the 
incense of praise is arrested in its upward course to 
heaven, " No man can serve two masters," was 'the 
doctrine of Jesus, and we do no violence to the spirit of 
the passage if we say, that no man can in sincerity and 
truth, worship supremely two, much less three Gods, and 
the truth of the position is clearly demonstrated m the 
case of believers in the Trinity. 

I envy not that man his discernment, who has not 
discovered, that although the believers in the Trinity 
contend in words, for the strict identity, unity and per- 
fect equality of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, yet in 
their worship, they are far from making them one or 
equal, in point of power or worth. When they address 
the Saviour, it is with the liveliest joy, ana it is easy to 
perceive that he shares far more largely in their affec- 
tions, than the Father or the Holy Ghost; and if there 
was no God but him, they would trust him without a 
doubt or a fear. But when they address the Father, it 
is in a different strain entirely. He is an austere and 
hard master, to whose goodness they are afraid to ap- 
peal ; and hence, they rarely ask any thing of him for 
his own goodness* sake; but they ask him to heed the 
intercessions and groans and blood, of his more compas- 
sionate Son, and to spare and give for his sake. The 
Holy Ghost is rarely directly addressed at all, but Jesus 
and God the Father, are besought to send down the Holy 
Ghost, thus making the third person in this professedly 
equal trinity, a kind of subordinate, who does the bid- 
ding of the first and second. "No man can serve two 
masters, for either he will love the one and hate the 



UNITY OF GOD. 



33 



other, or else ne will hold to the one and despise the 
other." For this reason the idea of a Trinity is destruc- 
tive of real, pure, heartfelt devotion, to one only living 
and true God. 

Nor is the doctrine of the humanity of Jesus one of 
small moment. In our judgement the name of Christ 
ought not to be made a stumblingblock to the Jews, by 
being presented as claiming equality with him who 
claims to be God alone. Such a course does much to 
strengthen the hands of the infidel and cause him to 
glory in his rejection of the Gospel. The deist says, "I 
adore the God of nature. I see his name in characters of 
living light and glory upon the broad canopy of heaven; 
and in those worlds and systems of worlds, that throng 
the immensity of space. I see his goodness upon the 
earth, and in the order of his providence, and I love and 
adore him. But look yonder, to the cross, and in the 
agony of death you behold the christian's God. He died 
like a man ! Nay," says he, " I cannot worship such a 
God." If the trinitarian replies, that his God did not die, 
but that it was the human nature only that died ; the an- 
swer of the deist is ready. " Your system makes an in- 
finite atonement necessary ; and if the man only died, 
then you have no infinite atonement, and your whole 
scheme of salvation is good for nothing." Thus reason* 
the infidel, and what, I ask, have the whole host of 
trinitarians ever done toward meeting the argument ? 
Nothing, absolutely nothing. 

But I meet the infidel here. I tell him he is wrong in 
the very outset of his argument. Jesus of Nazareth never 
claimed to be the self existent God. He said he was 
the son of man. When therefore, you point me to the 
•cross and tell me that my God died there, I say it is not 
60. Jesus is mv Teacher, my Guide, my examplar, my 



UKJTY GOD. 



Master and my Saviour, but he is not my God ; ani al! 
your reasonings upon Mat supposition, go wide of the 
truth, for your premises \re wrong. 

Again, the influence of the example of Christ, is 
greatly weakened upon those who view him as God. 
We may point to his example, his patience, forbearance, 
long-suffering, kindness, mercy and truth, and exhort our 
fellows to be like him ; but the excuse will be ready. Oh ! 
he is a God, and you cannot expect us to be like him. 
Give me leave to say, with the apostle, that he is the 
"man Christ Jesus, and tempted in all points like as we 
are," and then I leave man without a cloak for his sins. 

I present an illustrious example of human excellence, 
and demonstrate the fact, that humanity can gain the 
victory over every unhallowed lust and passion. I thus 
fire the soul with emulation, by giving man to know 
that there are in his own nature capabilities, to which 
he was a stranger before, and the mind is filled with 
gratitude when it sees that God has stooped from his 
throne and raised man to the dignity of being the instru- 
ment of Salvation to the world. 

Still again, the resurrection of Christ from the dead 
is dependent for its interest and power, upon the fact, 
that he was what the apostle called him, the man Christ 
Jesus. His resurrection from the dead is given us, as 
the proof that man shall rise also. Paul goes so far as 
to rest it all here. " Jf Christ be not risen, your faith is 
vain, ye are yet in your sins. Then they that are fallen 
asleep in Christ, are perished." But the resurrection of 
d God could give no assurance that man shall rise. But 
when we are told that he is the man Christ Jesus, and 
understand that he is "bone of our bone, and flesh of 
our flesh," and then view him in the brightness of his 
risen glory, the conqueror of death, the truth bursts with 



35 



full radiance upon the mind, for it is demonstrated, by 
actual experiment, that humanity is destined to burst 
the bars of death, and rise triumphant from the spoil- 
er's power. All this is dependent upon the fact, that he 
is what the Apostle calls him m the text. 

Let it not be said that these views are calculated to 
degrade the Saviour in the estimation of the world, or 
to undermine the foundations of confidence in his power 
to save. His example and character are not the less 
lovely because presented in the person of our elder 
brother ; nor is his power less efficacious because he re- 
ceived it from his Father and our Father, from his God 
and our God. I love the Saviour, " as the brightness of 
the Father's glory, and the express image of his person." 
I revere him, as the perfect pattern of virtue and holi- 
ness. I respect him, as the being upon whom God has 
conferred all power in heaven and earth ; and I trust 
him, as the conquering King of Zion, whose arm shall 
not be shortened until it has rescued the last child of 
sin from the power of the enemy, and established the 
empire of holiness and bliss, on the ruins of sin and suf- 
fering. Honour and glory be to Him who hath " saved 
us, and washed us in the washing of regeneration." 
Glory be to Him who hath loved us, and died, that he 
might return us to God ; and who will not faint or grow 
weary until a world shall be brought home to holiness 
and bliss. I say, with the full heart, glory and honour 
be to Jesus, the Saviour ; but I must say, " Glory to 
God in the highest," that, on earth, there is " peace and 
goodwill to men." He is God and beside Him there is 
none else ; and I cannot, I dare not, have any other God 
before Him. I leave this subject with you, and I pray 
you, remember that word which saith unto you, as it 
said to Israel of old: "Thou shalt worship the Lord 
thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." 



i 
i 



VTONEM£NT. 



SERMON ]II. 
ATONEMENT. 

" He that .in stifle th the wicked, and he that condemned the just, even they 
both are abomination to the Lord." Proverbs xvii. 15. 

Invariable equity aTid strict impartial justice are the 
first principles of the divine government, and always 
mark the ways of God to man. "When a man sins, 
justice requires that he should be punished, and accord- 
ingly, we find that God has so arranged the order of his 
government that punishment, sooner or later, comes 
fearfully upon, the head of the guilty. On the other 
hand, justice requires that the man who does good, 
should be rewarded; and, accordingly, we find, in our 
experience, that there is a rich and sweet reward in the 
practice of virtue. The scriptures everywhere teach 
that God is just, and they promise us, with the most 
solemn certainty, that the man who gives even a cup 
of water to a famishing brother, shall in no case lose his 
reward. In like manner, they assure us, with the same 
certainty, that the man who does wrong shall receive 
the reward of his doings, and, " though hand join in. 
hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished." There are 
no principles in theology which are capable of exer- 
cising a more controlling influence upon human conduct 
than these. It is important, also, that there should be 
a certainty and derlniteness about them which shall 
leave no room for a doubt, on either side. That man 
labours with a strong hand and a cheerful mind, who 



ATONEMENT. 



37 



feels that his reward is sure; and that man hesitates to 
do an evil act, who knows that r e cannot escape the just 
punishment of his sins. 

In order to illustrate the influence of these things, let 
us suppose that here is a man who has a number of 
workmen in his employ. To the faithful and obedient, 
he pays a liberal reward for their labours; but he never 
pays the man who does not labour. Every one in his 
employ knows, perfectly well, that, if he performs his 
duty, his reward is sure, and he will receive it, to the ut- 
termost farthing. He also knows, with equal certainty, 
that, in case he is unfaithful and disobedient, his punish- 
ment is sure and inevitable ; for his employer will in nov 
case suffer with impunity an infraction of his orders. It 
is easy for any one to see, that the effect will be,. a 
cheerful and willing obedience, and a faithful discharge 
of duty. 

But let us vary the figure. Let us suppose that this- 
man refuses to pay the labourer his hire, and that he 
makes no difference between those that serve him well,, 
and those that serve him not. He even goes farther 
than this. He bestows the wages of the faithful upon 
the unfaithful ; and when one labourer has transgressed, 
instead of punishing the transgressor, he chastises some 
innocent man, and lets the guilty go free. The labour- 
ers begin to reason in this way: "If I am faithful to 
my duty, there is no certainty that I shall receive my 
pay, for my employer would as soon give the reward of 
my toil to the indolent as to me ; and if I transgress, he 
will not punish me, but will inflict the penalty of my 
fault upon some innocent man." I need not name the 
result of such a state of things ; for the child can see at 
a glance, that the strong arm would be unstrung, and 
the labourers would be perfectly indifferent whether 



38 



ATONEMENT. 



they were faithful or unfaithful to their duty. If they 
were faithful, there would be no certainty of reward; 
and they would be in constant danger of having visited 
upon their heads, t ie punishment due to the unfaithful. 
If they were guilty, they would know that another, and 
not themselves, must suffer for their guilt. 

This similitude, though homely, is a just representa 
tion of the influence of men's views of the government 
of God. The world needs confidence in the justice of 
its God. Man wants to know that the Great Governor 
of the universe will do right — that he will render unto 
every man according to his deeds. He needs to be con- 
fident that, if he does right, his reward is certain, and 
he is in no danger of being condemned for the sins of 
another. He needs also to know, that, if he does 
wrong, he shall suffer for the wrong that he has done, 
and that God will not inflict the punishment for his guilt 
upon the head of some innocent one, and suffer him to 
escape. 

I make these remarks, because there is extensively 
prevalent, in the world, a doctrine which unsettles the 
foundations of firm confidence in the justice of God, 
and leads men to question the equity of his govern- 
ment. It makes men fear that they will not find a re- 
ward in well-doing : and hope to escape the punish- 
ment of their evil deeds, and thus it discourages the 
virtuous, and encourages the vicious. The doctrine to 
which I allude, is known among theologians, under the 
name of " Vicarious Atonement," and is as follows : It 
-supposes all men to be placed, by nature and practice, 
under the curse of a broken law, whose penalty is end- 
less condemnation and death ; and, at the same time, 
cutterly unable, of themselves, to fulfil the divine re- 
quirements, or make a particle of restitution for offences 



ATONEMENT. 39 



already committed. God was indisposed to mitigate 
he sentence he had passed, or abate a fraction from the 
full penalty of the broken law ; but was fully deter- 
mined to exact the last mite. The sinner had nothing 
to pay, and could, of course, do nothing toward releas- 
ing himself. Fortunately, however, Jesus interposed 
and took the payment of the debt upon himself, and 
proposed to suffer in the room and stead of the sinner. 
It was done, and, according to Dr. Watts, 

" He quenched Ms father's flaming sword 
In his own vital blood." 

Atonement is therefore defined by Buck to be: "The 
satisfying of divine justice, by Jesus Christ giving hirrv 
self a ransom for us, undergoing the penalty due to sin, 
and thus releasing us from that punishment which God 
might justly have inflicted upon us." This is the doc- 
trine of atonement as it is generally held, and you will 
recollect that I named it, in my first lecture, as a point 
upon which we differ from the common opinion. I also 
intimated that I should, at some future time, take it up at 
large. In fulfilment of that pledge, I propose to make 
it the principal topic of the present discourse. 

In the definition of atonement, just quoted, you will 
perceive we are told, with sufficient plainness, that 
Christ actually suffered the punishment which was due 
the sinner in his room and. steady and thus released us 
from the punishment justly our due. Now I ask, what 
was the punishment which was due the sinner ? The 
answer is, it was condemnation and death. And did 
God condemn Christ as a sinner, and treat him as such ? 
So says the doctrine in hand. And was Jesus in reality 
a sinntr ? No, for he is called the just and holy one, 



40 



ATONEMENT. 



and no guile was found in his heart. And yet G-od con- 
demned him, and punished him as a vile sinner ! ! If 
this be so, then I say, it is as evident as mathematical 
demonstration could make it, that God has " condemned 
the just;" and what does our text say about condemn- 
ing the just ? H;ar it, and blush for that folly which 
will thus traduce the name of a God of justice. " He 
that condemneth the just is an abomination to the 
Lord." There is no chance for an evasion here: for, if 
it be true, that it is an abomination to God to condemn 
the just, and yet he has condemned the just, then he 
has done a thing which he abominates. But, if he has 
not "condemned the just," then the doctrine of vicari- 
ous atonement is a fable. 

But this is not all. The doctrine in question teaches 
that God not merely "condemns the just," but he also 
justifies the wicked. It tells us that, in consequence of 
Christ's suffering for us, God releases the sinner from 
the punishment that is justly his due. If this be true, 
it needs no argument to prove that God has done an- 
other thing which he abominates. He condemns the 
just, in the first instance, and then he justifies and re- 
ceives, as just and pure, the vilest trangressor of his law, 
and suffers him to escape all punishment. What does 
our text say of such things ? Hear it, yet once more, I 
beseech you, and remember it for your good. " He that 
condemneth the just, and he that justifieth the wicked, 
even they both, are abomination to the Lord." 

I ought not to leave this subject, without adverting to 
another doctrine, which seems to have been invented on 
purpose to hide the deformity of the one of which we 
have been treating. 

I allude to the doctrine of "imputation." Buck de- 
fines it thus : " God's most gracious donation of th* 



ATONEMENT. 41 

righteousness of Christ to believers, and nis acceptance 
of their persons as righteous, on account thereof ; their 
sins, being imputed to him, and his righteousness being 
imputed to them, they are, in virtue thereof, both ac- 
quitted from guilt, and accepted as righteous." This 
is the doctrine of imputation and it is thought to relieve 
the doctrine of atonement from the charge of injustice. 
Thus, it is said, that the sins of the whole world were 
imputed to Christ, and, resting under this imputation, 
he might justly be condemned as a sinner. So, on the 
other hand, the righteousness of Christ is imputed to 
the sinner, and, therefore, there is no injustice in receiv- 
ing him as a righteous man. 

It must be confessed, that the inventors of this doc- 
trine (for it is no more than invention of man) are enti- 
tled to some credit for ingenuity in forming a sentiment 
to get out of a difficulty. Unfortunately, however, the 
doctrine has no foundation, either in scripture, reason, 
or fact. The truth is, that righteousness is not a com- 
modity that can be transferred from one to another, as a 
piece of merchandize ; neither is guilt a thing that can 
be passed from man to man. They are both personal 
matters — things which pertain to individuals, and can- 
not be separated from them. I ca»nnot be virtuous foi 
my friend, nor can he be virtuous for me. To our own 
Master, we must stand or fall for ourselves. The same 
is true of guilt. It is in the nature of things, and in the 
government of God, as utterly impossible, for one man 
to assume another's guilt, as it is to assume his righte- 
ousness, and there is no more folly in one man's attempt- 
ing to eat and drink and sleep for another, than in at- 
tempting to be virtuous or sinful for another. Suppose, 
for example, there is a foul murder committed in this 
city. Is there a man among you who would allow thai 




42 



ATONEMENT. 



the guilt of that murder could be transferred to you, 
and you he justly punished for a crime you did not com- 
mit ? No, not one. And if any man should intimate 
that you were guilty of the crime, you would hurl the 
imputation from you as a foul and disgraceful libel. 
Should he insist that the sin was imputed to you, and 
your character imputed to the real murderer, you would 
say at once, that the thing was impossible, and that hav- 
ing committed no crime, you could not, upon any princi- 
ple of justice, be counted guilty. Suppose our state 
authority should arrest an innocent man, and execute 
him, while the murderer went free — it would be pro- 
nounced, by every man in community, a shameless and 
graceless outrage upon every principle of justice, and a 
disgrace to humanity. Men might plead as much as 
they pleased, that the murder was imputed to the inno- 
cent man and he was willing to assume it, and that the 
state had made a " most gracious donation" of the good 
man's character to the murderer : and the innocent man, 
suffering in his stead, would release him from the pun- 
ishment which the state had a right to inflict upon him, 
and what would such pleas avail? They would be 
scouted from community, as the visions of a disordered 
brain, and we should be told that our system of juris- 
prudence recognized, as a first principle, that crime is 
not transferable, that the guilty alone must suffer for 
their guilt, and that it is a foul abomination in the sight 
of God to condemn the just and punish them for the 
sins of the wicked. We should be told, that the wise 
and prudent have so strongly maintained this principle, 
as to establish it as an axiom, that it is better for ten guil- 
ty men to escape than for one innocent person to suffer. 
Thus men reason, for they can reason well enough in 
every thing else but religion. Put the moment we turn 



ATONEMENT. 



43 



our attention to theology, all these principles are violated, 
and we are presented as a first article of faith, a doc- 
trine, which makes God do those very things which in 
men we despise and condemn, and which he himself 
pronounces an abomination in his sight. In the first 
place, he is made to condemn Jesus, he just, and indict 
upon his head the punishment of t\ie guilty, that he 
may justify the wicked; and then, to shield him from 
the charge of injustice, he is made to do what neither 
God nor man ever could do, transfer the guilt of sin, as 
well as its punishment, to the innocent, and the righte- 
ousness of the righteous, to the wicked. Why, in the 
name of reason, do men, who hold such views, find fault 
with the Catholic for believing in works of supereroga- 
tion? It was long, you know, a favorite doctrine of the 
Catholic church, that all the works done by the saints, 
over and above what was strictly required, went into a 
sort of general fund, from which others might make up the 
deficiencies of their own virtue. Thus, a portion of this 
righteousness could be imputed to others, and they re- 
ceive its reward. Protestants have long since repudia- 
ted that doctrine as unjust, false, and pernicious ; and 
yet, it is difficult to perceive a fraction of difference be- 
tween that and the common doctrine of atonement, 
so far as the principle of the thing is concerned. In 
fact, it is the same doctrine carried out to its legitimate 
results and tendencies. If the righteousness of Christ 
can be transferred to me, so may that of Peter, or Paul, 
or any other man: and, if the punishment of my sins 
may be justly inflicted upon Jesus of Nazareth, by 
the same rule, it may be inflicted upon any of my 
hearers. The truth is, the whole system of vicarious 
atonement is wong — an outrage upon all justice and 
right, and, as such, is pronounced by the voice of 



44 



ATONEMENT. 



inspiration, " an abomination in the sight >f the 
Lord." 

That Jesus died upon the cross is beyond all question; 
that he died for the world, is equally certain, from the 
divine testimony; but that he died a vicarious sacrifice, 
to appease the wrath, satisfy the justice, or secure the 
favor of God, and the escape of the guilty, is most un- 
equivocally denied. God asks no blood of hulls or goats, 
much less the blood of his own Son, to render him mer- 
ciful or good. The sacrifice of a broken and contrite 
heart is all that the Lord our God requires ; and to sum 
up the whole in a few words, my objections to the doc- 
trine of vicarious atonement are — that it is unjust in 
theory, impossible in fact, and pernicious in practice. 
It is unjust, because it punishes the innocent for the 
guilty, and suffers the wicked to escape on account of 
the shedding of innocent blood; whereas, the rule of 
heaven's justice is, that every man shall suffer for 
his own sins, and that God will by no means clear the 
guilty. It is impossible in fact, because righteousness 
and guilt cannot be transferred from one to another 
and the sufferings of the innocent cannot satisfy that 
justice which requires that the guilty alone shall suffer. 
It is pernicious in practice, because it encourages men 
on in sin, by fostering the delusive hope that there is an 
easy way to escape from the punishment threatened 
against those who transgress. 

It tells men, in effect, no matter how sinful they are. 
Though wicked as Cain, and corrupt as Mary Magdalen, 
with her seven devils, Jesus has paid the debt for them, 
and they can, at any time, on application to him, obtain 
a discharge from all the claims of the divine justice, and 
an imputation of his righteousness, which will enable 
them to stand uncondemned in the sight of a pure and 



ATONEMENT. 



46 



holy God. The effect of such views can but be bad 
upon the practice of men. 

I have before said, that there is no question upon the 
subject of the death of Christ for the world, so far as the 
fact itself is concerned. The only dispute is upon the 
nature and object of his death. At some future time I 
purpose to make the sufferings and death of Christ the 
subject of a discourse. I cannot, therefore, dwell upon 
that point now. For the present, it may suffice to say, 
that Jesus found the world in darkness, sin, and igno- 
rance, and his object was to enlighten, purify, and in- 
struct them. He knew that his testimony would cost 
him labor and suffering, and even his life. Yet he did 
not hesitate, but gave himself and all his powers to the 
work, and at last bowed his head and died upon the 
cross, that he might seal his mission with his blood, and 
in his resurrection prove it all divine. 

But the hearer will inform me that he certainly reads 
of an atonement in the New Testament, and he will de- 
sire to know what we are to understand by that term. 
I suspect, after all you have read about an atonement in 
the Gospel, you will find, on a moment's reflection, that 
you have heard much more about it from the preacher 
than you have read in the Bible. Will it surprise the 
hearer if I tell him that the word atonement is not to be 
found but once in all the writings of the New Testament ? 
Such is the fact ; and I presume you will now aigree 
with me in saying that you were mistaken in the sup- 
position, that you had read much upon that subject in 
the sacred book. In the 5th chapter of the Epistle to 
the Romans, at the 11th verse, you may find the word 
atonement. It reads thus: "And not only so, but we 
joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also 
we have now received tae atonement." You have now 



46 



ATONEMENT. 



before you the only passage in the New Testament m 
which the word atonement is used ; and much as you 
thought you had read about it there. I pledge yon my 
truth that you have read just that one verse, and no 
more. What is still more remarkable, is the fact, that 
the atonement there mentioned is something that the 
Apostle, and not God, had received. The common view 
of atonement makes it a satisfaction which God receives 
for the breach of his law. But the Apostle says, "We 
joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by w r hom we 
have now received the atonement." This is certainly 
the very reverse of the popular manner of speaking of 
an atonement. The atonement is thought to have been 
made to God, and to be received and accepted by him. 
But here the Apostle speaks of it as something that he 
and his brethren had received. The whole difficulty, if 
there is any in the case, will be removed when you are 
informed, that although the word "atonement" occurs 
but once in the New Testament, yet the same original 
word occurs frequently, and, except in this instance, is 
uniformly rendered "reconciliation;" and it evidently 
might better have been so rendered in this passage. " We 
joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we 
have now received the reconciliation." Here we have 
opened before us a full and correct view of the Scripture 
doctrine of atonement. Its simple meaning is, reconcili- 
ation, and I need not tell you that " reconciliation " to God 
is the most important doctrine of the Gospel. It was to 
reconcile man to his God, that Jesus came, and suffered, 
and died, and rose again from the dead ; and this, also, 
was the end and object of all the labours, teachings, and 
sufferings of the Apostles, who took their live:; in their 
hands and went out to preach the Gospel of Jesus. For 
this reason the Gospel is called the " word of reconcili- 



ATONEMENT. 



47 



ation,'' and its ministry is called " the ministry of recon- 
ciliation." Let patience have her perfect work among 
you, for I have dwelt long upon a false and spurious 
doctrine of atonement, smd I must dwell at some length 
upon this, the true Gospel of Christ. " Be ye reconciled 
to God," is the first and the last, the highest and the ho- 
liest command of the Gospel; and it evidently indicates 
that those to whom it was given were then in a state of 
unreconciliation. Now, where there is unreconciliation, 
there is always dissatisfaction or enmity; and this is in 
perfect accordance with those Scriptures which speak of 
the carnal mind as being " at enmity against God." 

The important idea with which we must start, in our 
investigation of this matter, is, that it is man who is dis- 
satisfied, and at enmity with God, and not God who is 
at enmity with his creatures. Here is the radical defect 
of all the nameless systems of men. They start with 
the position, that God is unreconciled to man, and they 
labour to reconcile him to the world instead of the world 
unto him. If you will examine the subject, you will see, 
in a moment, that not only the false systems of Chris- 
tian lands, but all others, err precisely upon this point. 
The Heathen have a multitude of gods, and their vic- 
tims bleed upon ten thousand altars. Their children 
sink in the wave, their wives burn in the flame, and 
their own bodies are cast down to be crushed beneath 
the wheels of an idol's car. And what is it all for? 
What power is that which puts this vast machine in 
motion ? The answer is, They think the gods are un- 
reconciled, and they hope to reconcile them by these 
painful rites and heart-rending sacrifices. The very 
foundation, the main spring of the whole system and 
practi ^e is, that the gods need a reconciliation. Chris- 
tians coo, have departed from th ; corner stone that God 



IS 



ATONEMENT. 



had laid in Zion, and have built upon this same heathen 
foundation. Christians, too, can talk of an angry God, 
and tell you that heaven's Lord and King is unreconciled, 
and something must be done to reconcile him, or the 
damnation of hell will testify to the extent and power 
of his hatred. Now, this is all wrong. I lay the axe 
at the root of the corrupt tree, and I testify unto you, 
that God never was and never can he unreconciled to 
the world; but man is unreconciled to God, and needs a 
reconciliation, or, if you please, an atonement. 

The very nature of God is a full and sufficient proof 
that he can never be unreconciled to man, or that if hi 
were so, he could never be reconciled. He is all-wise 
and immutable. He knew as well before he made man 
what he would be, and what he would do, as afterward 
When he put forth his power and called man into ex- 
istence, his life and all its acts, his character and all its 
shades of darkness and of light, were as present with 
God as they are now. God saw it all, and in view of it 
all, he was reconciled to man, and pronounced him good, 
yea, very good. Now, as God was then reconciled, and 
as with him there is no variableness, neither shadow of 
turning, it must follow, that he is now, and ever will be, 
reconciled to man. Neither can any changes of man's 
character effect a change in God, or make him unrecon- 
ciled ; because God knew all these changes from the be- 
ginning, and had there been any power in them to work 
unreconciliation in God, he would have been unrecon- 
ciled from the beginning. 

That God is not unreconciled to man, is further evi- 
dent from the fact, that his blessings are scattered daily 
around us, and the whole history of the world is a his- 
tory of unearthly kindness on his part, and of ingrati- 
tude, and suspicion on the part of man. It is evident. 



ATONEMENT. 



49 



also, from the Scriptures, which abound in the stronges' 
expressions of love in God, and which represent the 
whole work of reconciliation as having originated in God 
and being of him. The mission of a Saviour is set forth 
as originating in the love of God, and not as a system of 
means for restoring that love after it had been lost. 
Herein is love ; not that we loved God, but that he 
loved us, and gave his son for us. Besides all this, 
these same scriptures tell us, that God is reconciling the 
world unto himself, and they exhort us, saying : " Be 
ye reconciled to God." But they never speak of recon- 
ciling God to the world, nor ask us to do any thing to 
that end, for the best of all possible reasons, that he 
never was unreconciled, and, of course, no such work 
was necessary. 

But what is it to be reconciled to God? I answer, it 
is to conform to the spirit of his law. " Thou shalt 
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all 
thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy 
strength, and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself : 
on these two commands hang all the lav/ and the proph- 
ets." Now, when a man conforms to this law, he is 
reconciled to God; but, while there is hatred in the 
mind, there must be unreconciliation. The reason is 
perfectly obvious. " God is love." Hatred is the oppo- 
site of love, and there never can be any concord or agree- 
ment between the two. But, when all hatred is purged 
out, and man learns to love God with the whole heart, 
and his neighbour as himself, then he becomes like God, 
and there is perfect concord between the two. Hence 
the Apostle says: "He that dwelleth in love dwelleth 
in God and God in him, for God is love.' This is recon- 
ciliation. 

But this is not all that the term imriies. It supposes 



50 



ATONEMENT. 



an entire submission to, and satisfaction with, God's 
government, providence, and purposes. The man who 
grudgingly submits to God's government, because he 
cannot avoid it, while, at the same time, he wishes that 
the reins of government were in his hands, cannot 
properly be said to be reconciled to God. But when a 
man comes to see that God is good, in all his works and 
ways, and that all his purposes are gracious, and he 
would not alter them if he could ; then he is reconciled 
to God, and he can sentimentally rejoice that the gov- 
ernment of the universe is vested in a being so wise, 
so gracious, and so good. This is reconciliation, in its 
full extent, and this is the true doctrine of atonement. 
This was the atonement which Paul had received 
through our Lord Jesus Christ. Before this he had 
been dissatisfied that God should suffer many things, 
and he breathed out threatening and slaughter. He had 
embraced hard and ungracious views of God, and he 
felt unreconciled to him and his ways. But Jesus re- 
vealed to him the abundance of grace and truth, and 
taught him better views of the economy of his Father's 
grace, and by this word he was reconciled to God. His 
soul was filled with love to God and man, and he con- 
fided in the wisdom of his Father to do all things well. 
This is the work of atonement, or reconciliation; and 
I cannot dismiss the subject without the remark, that 
this is one of the distinguishing doctrines of the Gospel. 
It is a doctrine which marks the Gospel of Christ as 
radically distinct from all other systems of religion. 
Man never yet made a religion, the object of which 
was not to have some influence upon the purposes or 
disposition of God. Go the world over, and you will 
find that all the systems of paganism have this object 
in vieV , and make it their first business, by rites and 



ATONEMENT. 



51 



sacrifices, to operate upon the divinity. Christianity 
alone proclaims God in his goodness, and seeks only to 
operate upon man. It is a remarkable fact, that pre- 
cisely this point now separates Universalism from the 
popular systems of the day. They all have their vica- 
rious sacrifices, by which they seek to operate upon 
God, and make him more gracious than he would other- 
wise have been. But we raise our feeble voices and 
cry aloud, proclaiming to one and all, that God is good 
enough as he is ; he needs no change to make him bet- 
ter; but man, and man alone, needs to be brought up to 
communion with God, and a heartfelt reconcilation te 
Him. 



DEATH OF CHEIST. 



SERMON IV. 
PEATH OF CHRIST. 

M But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the 
suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour, that he, by the grace of 
God, should taste death for every man. 

" For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in 
bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of our salvation perfect 
through suffering." Hebrews ii. 9, 10. 

In my last discourse, I spoke of the doctrine of "vi- 
carious atonement," and endeavoured to show that it 
was a sentiment unfounded in reason, scripture, or fact. 
1 mentioned the sufferings and death of Christ, and at- 
tempted to show that these were not designed to placate 
the wrath, or satisfy the justice, of God. and thus open 
a way for the guilty to escape the just punishment of 
their sins. If these things are granted, then the ques- 
tion will, very naturally, arise, in the mind of the hearer, 
what were the true intent and meaning of the suffer- 
ings and death of Christ ? That he suffered much, that" 
he died upon the cross, at last, and that his death is 
spoken of as having an important bearing upon the in- 
terests of humanity, and in a very different manner from 
that of any other individual — all this is unquestionable, 
[f his death was not vicarious, the hearer will be ready 
to conclude that he died merely as a martyr to the 
cause which he had espoused ; and, as Stephen and 
many others were martyrs, why should the death of 
Christ be spoken of in a manner so different from the 
mode of speaking of other martyrs ? 



DEATH OF CHE IS JT. 



53 



To investigate these points and to explain to you, as 
clearly as I may be able, the precise nature and object 
of the death and sufferings of Christ, shall be the busi- 
ness of this discourse. I deem it proper to remark, thajt 
a love of the marvellous and the wonderful has had no 
small influence in magnifying the sufferings of Christ, 
as they are presented in the common doctrines of the 
day. It is thought that he suffered all that a world 
could suffer ; that, upon him, was the tremendous load 
of the sins of a whole world, and that he was assault- 
ed by all the powers of hell, at the same time; and, 
worse than all, deserted of God. That the sufferings 
of Jesus were great and severe, is unquestionably true ; 
but I am not aware that there is any good authority for 
saying, that they were greater than would have been 
experienced by any other benevolent and sensitive be- 
ing, under similar circumstances. The death of the 
cross is a cruel one, at best ; but it would seem, from the 
historian, that the agonies of Christ were not prolonged 
to the usual time; for we are told that the soldiers 
"marvelled that he was so soon dead." Upon this, 
however, it is unnecessary to dwell, at any considerable 
• ength. He was beaten and scourged and finally nailed 
to the cross, and bowed his head and died, and no man 
can conceive that his sufferings could have been either 
few or small. But the question before us relates to 
the precise object of these sufferings. 

Will it be said, that he died simply as a martyr ? My 
answer is, that he was more than a martyr. Such was 
the state of the world, when he came, that it was cer 
tain he would be under the necessity of making hi 
way through the most bitter and heartless persecutions 
He knew, right well, that, if he preached efficiently th 
truth of which he was made a witness, he must encoun 
5* 



DEATH OF CHRIST. 



ter the inveterate hatred of the world, and that he 
would be pursued even to the very death. The alterna- 
tive was before him, either to abandon his mission, and 
leave the world in darkness and vice, as he found it, or 
to go on, and establish his truth in the hearts of the peo- 
ple, at the expense of his life. He chose the latter; he 
gave himself, his labours, and his life, that he might re- 
store men to the knowledge and service of that God, 
whom to know was life eternal. In this sense he was 
a noble and an illustrious martyr to the cause of human 
happiness ; but even in this view, he differed from ordi- 
nary martyrs; because his death was certainly known, 
and on his part voluntary. There are many who have 
engaged in the Christian cause, well knowing that it 
would expose them to danger, and even put their lives 
in jeopardy. They have gone on, using all precautions, 
and endeavouring, b}^ all honest means, to escape the 
power of the persecutor, and have died at last, because 
they could not avoid it. It was different with Jesus. 
He knew, from the beginning, that his life would be 
sought, and that his death would be certain. And he 
voluntarily undertook the work, with a full knowledge 
of the certain consequences. He went up to the altar 
with a firm and willing step, and said, " I will offer up 
my life, and thus seal my ministry with my blood." In 
this view, then, he differed from the mere martyr of ne- 
cessity. 

But if the death of Christ was not vicarious, or pro 
pitiatory, why, it will be asked, was it necessary that he 
should die at all ? My answer is, that the necessity of 
his death grew out of the circumstances of the world, 
and the benevolent purposes of God toward man, inas- 
much as it was the only means by which those purposes 
could he accomplished. 



DEATH OF CHRIST. 



55 



L The sufferings and death of Christ were necessary, 
in order to exhibit before the world a perfect example 
for our imitation. 

Before the days of Jesus, the question had been asked> 
" who will show us any good ?" and various had been 
the models of goodness presented for the imitation of 
man. The sages of antiquity had taught morality, but 
they had poorly practised upon their own teachings ; and 
the experience of four thousand years had demonstrated 
the fact, that it was not enough that man should have 
rules of morality and virtue laid before him in theory : 
it had shown that rules of ethics, however good, could 
have but little influence upon human conduct, so long as 
they were not exemplified in *s?t. Man wanted not 
only to be told what was good and right, but he needed 
to see it exemplified tangibly before him. It was not 
enough that the way through the wilderness should be 
pointed out, for man needed a guide that should go be- 
fore him, as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, 
to lead him on his way. Jesus came to be that guide; 
and it was not enough that he should say, " this is the 
way, walk ye in it ;" but it was necessary that he should 
go before, and lead his people on. Now, what I wish 
you to observe is, that this is a world of suffering. Sor- 
rows, and temptations, and sufferings are the ills una- 
voidably incident to humanity. Hence, sufferings are 
necessary to draw out the perfections of the human char- 
acter. In this light you will see that the sufferings of 
Christ were necessary, inasmuch as without passing 
through them he could not have been a pattern for our 
imitation. Suppose, for example, the life of Christ had 
been a continued scene of uninterrupted prosperity. You 
might indeed have seen an illustrious example of virtue 
in one aspect. But who can tell what virtue is until it 



56 



DEATH OF CHRIST. 



is tried? To whom, under these circumstances, could 
he have been an example of patience under suffering, of 
meekness under insult, of forgiveness under injuries, and 
of kindness even in death ? He might indeed have 
taught patience, and resignation, and meekness, and for- 
giveness; but his teachings would have been compara- 
tively powerless, because they would have been unac- 
companied by a living example, illustrating their utility 
and practicability. You see, then, that in order to give 
efficacy and power to his teachings, it was necessary 
that they should be accompanied by a living example 
and in no other way could Jesus present an example for 
man, but by passing through the temptations and suffer- 
ings through which man must necessarily pass. In or- 
der to give an example of patience under suffering, he 
must first suffer. To exemplify the virtue of meekness 
under insult, he must first be insulted, and to exhibit 
forgiveness for injuries, he must first be injured. By 
these sufferings, and these alone, could the amiable traits 
of character and Godlike virtues of Jesus be exhibited 
to the world. Hence, these sufferings were necessary ; 
and hence also, the Apostle, in the text, gives us to un- 
derstand, that the " Captain of our salvation was made 
perfect through suffering." It was these sufferings that 
drew out the perfections of his character, and but for 
them, the world, to this day, would have been ignorant 
of the perfection of human virtue. 

There is still another view, in which the necessity oi 
this example is seen in a still more striking aspect. It 
was necessary to prepare his followers for tnose noble 
and self-sacrificing exertions, without which his cause 
would have languished and died. Had Christianity been 
nurtured in luxury and earthly glory, and had its founder 
been the pampered child of fortune and adulation, how 



DEATH OF CHRIST. 



57 



would it have fared with his followers and his religion 
when the storm gathered dark and black around, and 
broke, " terrible as the voice of many waters" upon their 
heads. Age after age the followers of Jesus waded 
through seas of persecution, and " met destruction face 
to face." Though dangers stood thick through all the 
way, and fierce opposers met them at every step, yet 
with an indomitable courage, that no power could awe, 
and perseverance that paused not at death itself, they 
went onward, glorying in tribulation, and rejoicing that 
they were counted worthy to suffer for the name of 
Jesus. These were the exertions that gave success to 
the Master's cause, and but for these, Christianity would 
have been exterminated. But where did the disciples 
learn to manifest a spirit like this ? I answer, from the 
self-sacrificing example of their Master. It was this 
that kindled the same spirit in the Apostles, and taught 
them to be faithful even unto death. And the united 
example of the Master and his servants has exerted an 
influence that has been felt in every age, and in all cir- 
cumstances where sufferings and dangers were to be en- 
countered in the cause of truth. From Calvary and 
Gethsemane, and from every scene hallowed by the suf- 
ferings of Jesus, there comes a voice, bidding the Chris- 
tian " be faithful." That voice has been echoed from 
generation to generation. In our own times it sounds full 
and clear, and it shall not cease till its silver tones shall 
mingle with the sound of the archangel's trumpet, when 
time shall be no more. Take away, now, the sufferings 
of Christ, and where would Christianity have been long 
ago? It would have died the death. 

There is still another aspect, in which we may see 
the necessity of these sufferings, in their bearing upon 
the permanent interests of the Gospel. Had the life of 



58 



DEATH OF CHRIST. 



Christ been one of ease, and worldly prosperity, ana 
honor, it is difficult to conceive of any amount of histor- 
ical evidence that would have borne down, through 
successive generations, the conviction of the truth of his 
doctrine, and the authenticity of his mission. The cry 
would have been raised, that he sought for worldly hon- 
or and riches, and a thousand suspicions of collusion 
and deception would have come up, and destroyed the 
convincing power of the most clear and palpable evi- 
dence. But when we see that the Saviour was " a man 
of sorrow and acquainted with grief." that he met with 
persecution, and lived in poverty, and endured the scorn 
of the world, and at last died upon the cross; then we 
see that there was an absence of all worldly motive, and 
the conviction is forced upon the mind, that his mission 
was divine. All these are illustrations of the truth con* 
tained in the text, that "the Captain of our salvation 
was made perfect," precisely what he should have been, 
" through suffering." Much more I might say upon this 
point, but I must pass on. 

II. I observe, that the sufferings and death of Christ 
were necessary to a full revelation of the character and 
perfections of G-od to the world. 

This was a great object of his mission on earth ; and 
hence it was that he said, near its close, " I have finish- 
ed the work which thou gavest me to do. I have de- 
clared thy name unto them that thou gavest me out of 
the world." It should be remembered, that a mere 
vague description of the character of God could give but 
a poor idea of its glory. It was necessary that it should 
be tangibly manifested on earth. In Christ it was mani- 
fested, and hence the Apostle says of him, that he is the 
" brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image 
of his person." As the rays of light- falling upon the 



DEATH OF CHRIST. 



smooth waters reflect a perfect image of the sun in the 
firmament, so the rays of divine light and truth, shining 
upon the face of Jesus the anointed, reflect a perfect 
image of God. He is the mirror in whom the Father's 
face may be seen, and in him we may perceive an exact 
likeness, a perfect transcript of the divine character. So 
exact was the likeness, that the Apostle calls it " the 
express image of his person." In this manner " God 
was manifested in the flesh," and so perfect was the 
manifestation that Jesus himself said, u He that hath 
seen me hath seen the Father." The great beauty of 
the character of God is, his goodness and love to the 
children of men. One writer says, that " God is love." 
He is not only lovely, but he is love itself, pure and una- 
dulterated love. 

Now, please bear in mind, that one great object of 
the mission of Christ was to reveal God's name to the 
children of men, and that he himself was the "bright- 
ness of the Father's glory and the express image of his 
person." "Greater love hath no man than this, that a 
man should lay down his life for his friend." Here is 
the highest perfection of human love ; it never can go 
beyond it. But God's love rises far higher than this. 
It extends even to his most bitter enemies. Do you ask 
for proof of this ? Go to the cross of Calvary, and there 
you shall behold it. There, in the agony and torture of 
a cruel death, you behold Jesus laying down his life for 
his enemies, and while they wag their heads and mock, 
his prayer goes up for a blessing upon their heads. 
There you see love stronger than death, which many 
waters cannot quench, nor the floods drown. Love, not 
for friends but for enemies and murderers — Love which 
paused not at persecution, and failed not in the hour of 
dissolving nature. Look hither ye doubting mortals 
2 



6C 



DEATH OF CHRIST. 



and behold the evidence of the love of God even to his 
enemies. There is the brightness of the Father's glory, 
and the express image of his person, and such as 19 
Jesus there, such is your God. 

Now let me ask, by what other means could Jesus 
have given such an evidence of strong and everlasting 
love as this ? He might have professed great love, but 
alas ! man would have been slow of heart to believe, for 
painful experience has taught him that such professions 
are not always to be trusted, and we know not, who 
among all our friends loves us, until the day of trial 
comes. He might have told them again and again, that 
their Father loved them, and pointed them as he had 
done, to the fowls of the air and lillies of the field, to 
the shining sun and falling rain, as evidence of the fact, 
and he might thus have convinced them that God lov- 
ed his friends ; but his business was to do more than 
this. 

It was to prove to the world, that the the love of God 
extended far beyond all human love, and embraced even 
his enemies. In his death he gave the demonstration 
of the fact. He laid down his life for his enemies, and 
in that tragedy of Calvary, the world saw, for the first 
time, an exhibition of loving kindness, that could not be 
overcome by all the guilt, sin, hatred and persecution of 
man. I can imagine no other way, in which so full an 
exhibition of the perfections of the divine character could 
have been made, and therefore I say, his death was 
necessary to a full and perfect revelation of his Father's 
name. The love of God was manifested in nature and 
providence. It was testified in scripture, but it was de- 
monstrated and proved by the death of Christ; tangibly 
exhibited in his sufferings, and shone in full splendoi 
from Calvary and its cross. 



DEATH OF CHRIST. 



61 



For this reason the writers of the New Testament all 
along, speak of the death of Christ, as the strongest 
possible manifestation of the love of God. " God com- 
mended his love toward us, in that while we were yet 
sinners Christ died for us." 

" He that spared not his own son, how shall he not 
also freely give us all things." These are the testimo- 
nies of the apostles, in regard to the death of Christ. 
They saw in it the most perfect manifestation of the 
love of God : for in Christ himself they beheld the image 
of the invisible God ; and it is a remarkable fact, that 
none of the inspired writers ever mention the death of 
Christ, as being the effect of the wrath of God, or the 
sacrifice offered to his justice. It is a commendation of 
the deep and unfathomable ocean of a father's love, and 
as such, they made it their hope and trust for the rich 
graces of the spirit iu this life, and the unborn glories of 
a happy immortality. But I must leave this, and pass 
to another view of the death of the blessed Redeemer. 

III. The death of Christ was necessary to prove the 
resurrection from the dead, and stamp the seal of eter- 
nal truth upon the divinity of his mission. 

Life and immortality are brought to light in the Gos- 
pel, through the resurrection from the dead. Before the 
Gospel came into the world, there was a thick veil of 
impenetrable darkness suspended between the vision of 
man and all beyond the grave. The question had been 
asked with fearful anxiety, "If a man dieth shall he 
live again ? " But it had not yet been answered. The 
wise men of old had pondered long upon that question. 
Sages and philosophers, and poets, had tasked their 
mighty powers in search of proof, that man should live 
again ; and in the end they confessed their ignorance, 
and left the question where they found it, and sighed as 



62 



DEATH :F CHRIST. 



they said, " man dieth. yea, he giveth up the ghost, and 
where is he ? " And echo answered, where ? 

Now Jesus came into the world to throw light upon 
the darkness of the grave, and teach man that he should 
rise from the dead. How should that be done ? It 
would answer no good purpose to teach man that it 
should be so, without giving the proof. Philosophers 
had taught this long ago, and had indulged in long and 
subtle trains of argumentation to prove that it should be 
so. But yet the world was without hope in the future 
Man needed not only the theory but the fact, and weep- 
ing humanity cried aloud, not for speculations ; for they 
had enough of these, but for a demonstration of the 
truth by actual experiment. It was needful, therefore, 
that Jesus should rise from the dead, and thus prove the 
doctrine of the resurrection from the dead, and give man 
a hope that should be as " an anchor of the soul, sure and 
steadfast." But he could not rise from the dead, unless 
he first died ; and hence you will see that his death was 
necessary to prove the truth of his mission, and to bring 
life and immortality to light. Nor is there any other 
imaginable way, in which such a hope could be given. 
In this light then you will see, that the death of 
Christ differs from the death of martyrs in another 
important respect. Martyrdom in general, is no more 
than a proof of the sincerity of the martyr. When a 
man persists in his adhesion to certain doctrines in the 
face of death, it is an evidence, and the highest evidence 
that he is sincere in his belief of certain principles, but 
it affords no proof of the truth of the principles them- 
selves, for a man may be sincere in the belief of false- 
hood. But in the case of Christ, you see his death was 
necessary, not merely as a test of his sincerity, but as 
(he means of demonstrating the truth of his doctrines. 



DEATH OF CHRIST* 



63 



For this reason, when the Jews asked a si^ti, he said, 
M destroy this body, and in three days I will raise it up.' 
Hence, also, the Apostle rested the whole proof of future 
life on the fact of the resurrection of Christ from the 
dead. " If Christ be not risen," says he, "your faith is 
vain, our preaching also is vain." But Christ could not 
have risen from the dead, except he had first died, and 
hence his death was a necessary part of his mission. 

Take away, now, the death of Christ, and what do 
you do? Why, you just destroy the glorious fact of his 
resurrection; you make him an impostor, and destroy 
the whole fabric of Christian hope. It is no wonder 
then, that the death of Christ should be mentioned ir 
different language, and as far more important than the 
death of any other man. 

It was not to be expected, that with such views the 
divine writers should compare the death of martyrs with 
this, for this had a bearing upon the hopes of a world, 
and was inseparably connected with the very foundation 
of all Christian hope. But for that death, and the con- 
sequent resurrection from the dead, darkness and eter- 
nal' night would still have brooded over the grave; and 
for aught that men or angels could tell, death would 
have been the final end of man, with all his hopes and 
joys. "For this purpose was the Son of God manifested, 
that through death, he might destroy death, and him 
that hath the power of death, that is the devil, and de- 
liver those who through fear of death were all their life- 
time subject to bondage." Mark you, it was through 
death, that he destroyed death, and wrought the deliv- 
erance of those who were subject to the bondage of 
fear. Well, then, might the Apostle glory in the cross 
of Christ. It was the cross that led to the tomb, and it 
was the tomb that was consecrated by the presence of 




64 



DEATH OF CHRIST. 



Jesus, and enlightened by the glory of his resurrection. 
Thus, through death, he shed the radiance of an eternal 
morning upon the night of the grave, and illumined the 
shadow of death with the dawn of a glorious and happy 
immortality, wkere humanity, raised in the image of 
Jesus, shall assimilate to its God, and live the eternal 
monument of his faithfulness and love. 

I have now given you my views of the nature and in- 
tent of the death of Christ, and of their efficacy in the 
great plan of redemption. Though I cannot allow that 
his blood flowed to appease the wrath or satisfy the jus- 
tice of God, and though I am positive that it was not 
God's justice, but man's injustice and wickedness, that 
made these sufferings and this death necessary, yet I 
cannot allow the truth of the charge, that we deny the 
efficacy and power of the Saviour's death. I praise my 
God that he sent his Son, who laid down his life for our 
sakes, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and 
give us good hope and everlasting consolation through 
faith. I thank heaven with a full heart, that Jesus was 
faithful even unto death, and that he " died that those 
who live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but 
unto God." While I live may I cherish the remem- 
brance and love of him, to whose labours and sufferings 
I am indebted for all that I am above the pagan, who 
bows to gods of wood and stone; and when at last the 
solemn hour shall come, that shall call me hence to be 
here no more, I pray that faith in the name of Jesus may 
enable me to close my eyes in peace, with the triumphant 
song upon my lips, " Oh, grave ! where is thy victory ? 
Oh, death ! where is thy sting? The sting of death is 
sin, and the strength of sin is the law, but thanks be 
unto God, who giveth us the victory, through our Lord 
Tesus Christ." 



PUNISHMENT. 



65 



SERMON V. 

PUNISHMENT. 

"If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments : if they 
break my statutes and keep not my commandments ; then will 1 visit their 
transgressions with the rod, and their iniquities with stripes. Nevertheless, 
my loving kindness will I not utterly take from them, nor suffer my faith- 
fulness to fail." Psalms lxxxix. 30, 33. 

In my introductory lecture, I gave it you as one of the 
peculiar and distinguishing doctrines of Universalism, 
that no man can, by any possibility, escape the just 
punishment of his sins. In my subsequent lectures, I 
have shown, that it was no part of the object, either of 
the labours, sufferings, or death of Christ, to open a way 
by which the guilty could evade the rod of his Father's 
justice. I purpose, in this discourse, to speak more at 
large upon the certainty and the object of punishment. 
I have more than once said, that no man can escape the 
just punishment of his sins; and before I proceed with 
the proof of the proposition, it will be necessary for me 
to explain my ideas of a just punishment. 

I commence with the position, that there is a vast 
difference between justice and revenge; a difference 
which seems almost entirely to have been overlooked 
by the theologians of this day. The difference is, that 
revenge is vindictive, while justice is never so; revenge 
is retrospective, while justice is prospective; revenge* 
looks upon the past, and seeks satisfaction for an injury 
done; but justice looks to the future, and se?ks there* 
6* 



66 



PUNISH HE1CA 



formation of the offender. Hence, it is evident tha' lh*. 
"lex talionis," or ixw of retaliation, has no foundation 
injustice. Let me illustrate. Your child transgresses 
your commands, and you punish him severely. Xow, it 
depends entirely upon your object, in the act of punish- 
ing, whether that punishment is justice or revenge. If 
you inflicted the stripes in a fit of anger, looking only at 
the offence, and seeking satisfaction to yourself for the 
injury done, then it was sheer revenge. But if you did 
it in the kindness of a father's love, because you though* 
the good of the child demanded it. and with the purpose 
of working out a reformation in the child, then, in you 
it was justice, even though it might have been severe. 
So it is in the government of God; I speak it with rev- 
erence ; God himself has no right to punish in revenge, 
or with a vindictive spirit. He brought us into existence 
of his own good pleasure, and without our knowledge 
or consent, and he is bound, by the principles of his own 
nature, to do us justice: and he has no right, in the na- 
ture of things, to do an injury. The right to punish for 
sin, has its foundation in the fact, that sin is " an evil 
and bitter thing," and its practice productive of evil to 
man. For this reason alone, is it right to punish men 
at all ; for, if sin w r ere more conducive to human happi- 
ness than virtue, it would not be right to prohibit its 
practice. But sin being an evil, justice looks to the re- 
moval of that evil ; it is, in fact, the remedy for it, and 
looks continually to the good of the sufferer. Hence, 
then, the conclusion is logical and irresistible, that a just 
punishment can never be more severe than the evil of 
sin ; for in that case, you would make the remedy worse 
than the disease itself. Again, you will see, from the 
foregoing, that the true standard of justice cannot be 
found in any precise quantity of punishment. I mean 



PUNISHMENT. 67 

£o say, that it is impossible to fix upon a s..aiidard which 
shall say, that so many degrees of guilt shall deserve 
and receive so many degrees of punishment, for that 
would destroy all distinction between justice and re- 
venge. I am particular on this point, because it is here 
that men fall into a most pernicious error. The com- 
mon opinion seems to be, that an inflexible standard is 
erected, and that so many pounds of punishment (for I 
know no better illustration) must, at all hazards, follow 
so many pounds of guilt. Hence, when we say that no 
man can escape the just punishment of his sins, the cry 
is raised, that there is no mercy, and that we destroy the 
mercy of God ! Why, my dear sir, do you not see that 
the very punishment itself is inflicted in mercy? The 
sinner is sick; "from the crown of his head to the sole 
of the foot, there is no soundness in him," and God, in 
his mercy, administers the medicine ; bitter, indeed, it 
may be, but it is administered by the hand of a Father's 
kindness. Hence the Psalmist says, " Great is thy mer- 
cy, 0 Lord, for thou renderest unto every man according 
to his works." But, to return to the point from which 
we started, 

The right to punish is, as I said, founded in the fact, 
that sin is an evil, and punishment is the remedy of that 
evil, its object being to enforce obedience to the law. 
For this reason, it is impossible that there should be a 
perfect rule prescribing the precise quantum of punish- 
ment due to every degree of guilt ; becaose, in the first 
place, this would make punishment not just, but vindic- 
tive ; and in the next place, it would, in some instances, 
(necessarily fail of its object, and in others go far beyond* 
The object of just ice is to enforce obedience, and effect 
a reformation ; anil when that object is secured, when 
tike transgressor is reformed, and the sinner made ohe 



m 



PUNISHMENT. 



dient, then the end of justice is attained. Whetner it 
takes one stripe or a thousand to accomplish that object, 
is of no consequence ; in either case, the punishment is 
just, and no more nor less than just. If it is attained by 
one stripe, then that one stripe is a full and just punish- 
ment. If it takes a thousand stripes, then nothing less 
than a thousand is just. When, therefore, I say, a just 
punishment, I do not mean a vindictive or revengeful 
one ; but I mean a punishment that is adequate to the 
evil of sin, and effectual in enforcing obedience. From 
such a punishment, my position is, that man cannot 
escape, by any possibility ; and, I may add, that, were it 
possible, the escape would be a curse, rather than a 
blessing, and man's rejoicings over it would be as ill- 
timed as those of a sick man, who should rejoice that 
he had escaped the taking of a healing medicine, for- 
getful of the truth that a deadly disease was left behind. 
I repeat again : sin is an evil and punishment is a rem- 
edy, and it is a poor cause of joy, that we have escaped 
the Good Physician, " who healeth all our diseases." 
Better, by far, submit to the caustic or the knife, if 
necessary, than bear about with us a gangrene that eat- 
eth to the vitals. I come, now, to give you the proof 
that all sin must be punished. I prove it 

I. From the very nature of man. 

God has given to man a moral constitution, and this 
constitution has its laws which must be obeyed, or we 
must suffer, as a necessary and unavoidable conse- 
quence, There is one course of ecnduct which will 
lead to happiness, because it accords with those laws; 
and there is another course which will as certainly lead 
to misery, because it is contrary to those laws. 

Let me illustrate this subject. We know that there 
are physical laws which must be obeyed, if we woyM 



PUNISHMENT. 



69 



preserve the health of the body. If we put our hand in 
the fire, it will be burned. If we expose our bodies to 
the cold, they will freeze ; and, if we eat or drink intem- 
perately, disease will be engendered. The reason is, 
that, in so doing, we violate the laws of our physical 
constitution, and incur that penalty which the Creator 
has annexed. So it is with the mind: it has its laws 
written upon it by the finger of the Creator, and these 
laws must be obeyed, or we must suffer. The idea to 
which I desire to direct your attention is, that the moral 
laws of God, presented in the Bible, are but revelations 
of those sure and immutable laws, which were stamped 
upon the human heart by the hand of God, long before 
a Bible was known. 

Look at it, in an extended view. All the law, so far 
as our conduct toward others is concerned, is summed 
up, by the Apostle, in one word : " Even this : thou 
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Now, I say, that 
man is so made that, if he would be happy, he must 
love his fellow man, and pursue a corresponding course 
of conduct. If we hate and devour one another, we vi 
olate the laws of our moral nature, and must as infalli- 
bly suffer, as the body must suffer, if exposed to the ac- 
tion of fire, contrary to the natural law. I desire you 
to look into your own hearts, and examine your own 
experience, and see if this is not so. When did yon 
hate a fellow creature, or do him an injury, and did not 
suffer misery as the consequence ? Or when did you do 
an act of kindness, and not feel that you had a most 
rich and abundant reward ? I will answer for you. 
Never. No, never did you have cause to rejoice that 
you had felt or acted wrong, and never did you regret 
that you had loved a brother and done him good. I 
care not who you are, or what may be your circum- 



TO 



PUNISHMENT. 



stances, love and kindness are the elements of il je soul ; 
but wrath and hatred will burn like fire in the bosom, 
and destroy your peace ; for God himself has so made 
man, the world over, that, if we would be ha^py, we 
must love one another and be kind. I say, then, that 
the very constitution of man is proof that there is no 
escape from the punishment of our sins; and all our ex- 
perience bears its testimony to this solemn truth. Ye 
may as well attempt to stop the sun in the firmament, 
or roll back the wheels of nature, as to interfere with 
that eternal law which God has revealed in the Bible, 
and written on our very souls, declaring that love only 
is the delight of the soul, and that hatred will corrode 
the moral powers, and pour a flood of moral poison 
through all the channels of a healthful, moral existence. 

II. I prove that no mau can escape the just punish- 
ment of his sins, from the clear and explicit testimonies 
of scripture. 

If there is one point more clearly established by the 
concurrent and explicit testimony of all the divine wri- 
ters than another, it is the truth that God will visit cer- 
tain and inevitable punishment upon those who trans- 
gress his laws. The very first prohibition that God 
made, was sanctioned by this penalty. " In the day 
that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." In af- 
ter times, God proclaimed himself as, " the Lord, the 
Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and 
abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for 
thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, and 
that will by no means clear the guilty." " Though 
hand join in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished." 
" The soul that sinneth it shall die ;" and " he that 
doeth wrong, shall receive for the wrong that he 
has done, and there is no respect of persons." These 



PUNISHMENT. 



ft 



are the teachings of the Bible upon the point in hand, 
and it is remarkable that all these threatenings are 
made without any proviso or conditions whatever ; but 
are, in the strictest sense of the term, unconditional. 
When God says that he will, by "no means clear the 
guilty," I cannot suppose he meant to be understood 
that he himself had prepared the means by which the 
vilest of the t£e might escape from all that punish- 
ment to which their sins expose them. It were trifling 
in God, to threaten men with punishments which he 
never intended to inflict, and I dare not thus charge 
falsehood and deception upon the Holy One of Israel. 
I pray you, then, beloved, think not that God is a man, 
that he should lie, or the son of man, that he should re- 
pent. His words are faithful and true, and the thing 
that he saith, even that will he do. The adversary, in 
ten thousand shapes, may attempt to deceive you. He 
may come in the garb of an angel of light, a minister 
of the Gospel, and tell you to follow his directions, and 
ye shall escape the justice of your God. I warn you, 
heed it not. Lay not the flattering unction to your 
soul ; it is an " ignis fatuus that leads to bewilder, and 
dazzles to blind." It leads ten thousand astray, and in- 
volves them in many woes. It is this hope of an easy 
escape, that urges men on and makes them bold in sin. 
Oh ! fly from it, as from the pestilence " that walketh in 
darkness and wasteth at noonday for God is true, he 
will " by no means clear the guilty." You may lock 
your crimes in the secret recesses of your own heart ; 
but God will find them out. You may flee to the dark- 
ness, where the eye of man cannot penetrate ; but that 
darkness is light before him, and even there will his 
justice scourge you with a thong, that no vigilance can 
elude, no fortitude endure. I pray you therefore, yet 



72 



PUNISHMENT. 



once more, think not that any man can sin with impuni- 
ty, for it is an idle dream. 

T suppose the hearer will, by this time, inquire if we 
do not read in the Bible, of forgiveness and pardon, to the 
penitent? I answer, yes ; and, in my next discourse, I 
intend to take that subject up at large, and show that 
there is no incongruity between the idea of forgiveness, 
or pardon, and a just and adequate punishment. At 
present I have merely time to observe that the forgive- 
ness of sin, of which we read in the scriptures, and the 
forgiveness of punishment, of which we do not read, 
are two distinct and different things which ought never 
to be confounded. 

Having shown, as I trust, that the first part of the 
text is true, to wit : " If his children forsake my law, 
and walk not in my judgments, if they break my stat- 
utes, and keep not my commandments, I will visit their 
transgressions with the rod, and their iniquities with 
stripes;" I proceed to illustrate the latter clause: 
4 Nevertheless my loving-kindness I will not utterly 
take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail." The 
position, I assume, is this : — 

All the punishments that God lays upon men, are 
the well intended chastisements of a merciful Father, 
and so many testimonies of his parental faithfulness and 
love. Now for the proof of that position. 

The first argument in its favor is drawn from the na- 
ture of God. We are informed by the beloved disciple, 
that God is love. I have before made the remark, that 
God is not said merely to be lovely, but he is love itself. 
He is love noiv, love henceforth, and love for evermore. 
Now it is impossible for the same fountain, to send forth 
waters both bitter and sweet. God is the fountain, and 
all the streams from that fountain must of necessity. 



PUNISHMENT, 



73 



partake of its own divine nature. Whetner these 
streams come to us in the form of chastisements, or of 
undisguised mercies makes no difference. Whether 
they silently and smoothly glide through the verdant 
plain, and sweetly murmur in the valley, or rush down 
the rugged mountain's side, with the noise and din of the 
cataract, makes no difference; they all flow from the 
same fountain : that fountain is love, and the streams 
must be love also. As certainly, therefore, as you can 
judge of a stream by knowing the fountain from which 
it flows, so surely can you judge of the nature of chas- 
tisements, by knowing the fountain from which they 
proceed. If God is love, then all his punishments are 
inflicted in love, and it is impossible that one partiele of 
hatred can flow from such a fountain. 

Again, God is immutable, and knows no change. Men 
may change, and they do all fade as a leaf ; but God is 
the same yesterday, to-day and for ever. He is not love 
to-day and hatred to-morrow, nor can any change in his 
creatures work a change in him. Now the scriptures 
assert, that " God so loved the world, that he gave his 
only begotten son to die for us." Here then you find, 
that there was a time when God loved even an ungodly 
world. If therefore, he is immutable he will ever con- 
tinue to love them, and even the fact that he chastises 
them, cannot be received as an evidence that his love has 
turned to hate, for he changes not. 

Another argument in favor of our position, we derive 
from the fact that God has revealed himself to us in the 
relationship of a father. Now there are certain duties in- 
dispensable to the parental character, and neither God 
nor man, nor any other being can truly sustain that 
character without the performance of these duties. 
The most solemn duty of a father is to love his children r 
7 



n 



PUNISHMENT. 



under all circumstances and at all times. In no one act 
does a father give more unequivocal evidence that he 
loves his children, than in his chastisements for their 
follies and sins. Suppose for instance, I should see one 
of my hearers chastising his child. I would go away 
and say, that man did not love his child ; and if you 
asked the reason why I thus judged, my reply should be, 
that I saw him punishing the child. How quickly should 
T hear from the accused the reply, that the punishment 
proceeded not from hatred but from love. I love my 
child, and for that very reason I chasten him. If I 
cared not for his welfare I should take no notice of his 
faults; but feeling as I do, my own happiness indisso- 
lubly connected with that of the child, I am constrained 
to use even the rod of reproof to save him from the 
snares of the tempter ; and the very fact that I chasten 
him is the proof of my love. Dear to my heart as the 
apple of my eye, is the image of my child ; precious 
as my own right hand itself, is the happiness of my 
wayward boy. But he must be trained to virtue, that 
he may grow up in usefulness and happiness. To this 
end I chasten him ; for his good I sacrifice for the time 
being, all the pleadings of a parent's tenderness, and 
cause pain to him for whose sake I would rush in the 
midst of danger and death. Oh ! how little does that 
mistaken child know of the feelings of a parent, who 
supposes that he chastens him for his injury ! Just so 
little does that man know of the character of his heav- 
enly Father, who views his punishments in any other 
light but the kind administrations of a friend, who seeks 
our permanent good, and who knoweth that although 
"no chastening seemeth joyous for the present, but 
grievous, nevertheless, afterward, it yieldeth the peace- 
able fruits of rghteousness unto those that are exer 



PUNISHMENT. 



75 



cised thereby." The man who will allege these chas- 
risements as evidence of God's hatred, is not less foolish 
than he who should contend that a parent did not love 
his child, because when the child was sick, he refused 
it the food it loved, and gave a bitter medicine. The 
fact is, this is the best evidence of his love. So Paul 
makes the chastisements of God the proof, that he is a 
father and we his children. 

" If ye be partakers of chastisements, God dealeth 
with you as children, for what child is he whom the 
father chasteneth not. But if ye be without chastise- 
ments whereof all are partakers, then are ye illegitimate 
children and not sons.'' Here you see the Apostle al- 
leges the fact that God chastises his creatures, as the 
evidence that God was a father, and man a child. 

I say then, the character of God as a father, is proof 
that all his punishments are inflicted in love, and that 
though he " visit our transgressions with the rod, and 
our iniquities with stripes, nevertheless, his loving kind- 
ness he will not utterly take from us, nor suffer his 
faithfulness to fail." 

The third argument that I offer in proof of the position 
assumed, is, that it is clearly taught in scripture. " Whom 
the Lord loveth he correcteth, and scourgeth every one 
that he receiveth." " Whom the Lord loveth he correct- 
eth, even as the father the son, in whom his soul delight- 
eth." "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zeal- 
ous, therefore, and repent." " The Lord doth not afflict 
willingly, nor grieve the children of men, but though he 
cause grief yet will he have compassion, according to the 
multitude of his tender mercies." These are the testimo- 
nies of the divine word, and the/ certainly teach, if they 
teach any thing, that the rod of punishment in God's hand, 
is in the hand of a father who wields it only for our good. 



-76 



PUNISHMENT. 



Here I pause, and I shall leave you to decide how far 
I have succeeded in sustaining the several positions I 
have assured. I cannot leave this subject with a con- 
sciousness of having fully discharged my duty, without 
remarking that these views of the divine government, 
cannot fail of being most salutary in their moral influ- 
ence. It is the certainty, far more than the magnitude 
of punishment, that has a restraining influence. Pun- 
ishment to be effectual in preventing crime, should be 
near and inevitable. " Prompt pay is the life of busi- 
ness," has grown to a proverb; and there is a great deal 
of true human nature, and important instruction in the 
case of the man who was caught in the act of stealing, 
and on being reminded by the owner of the goods that 
he would pay for them on the day of judgement, prompt- 
ly replied, " If I had thought you would trust so long, I 
would have taken more." It is a small thing, I know, 
but it is not less instructing. Who does not know, that 
when men can get long credit, they are apt to go in 
debt ? The great difficulty with the common doctrines 
of the day is, that these credits are too long, and the 
ultimate payment too uncertain. They do indeed 
threaten the sinner with a most severe and tremendous 
punishment. But it is a great way off. It lies beyond 
the curtain of death, whereas the temptation to sin is 
present and real. 

But worse than this, they give to every man the priv* 
dege of escaping even that distant punishment, on the 
most easy terms. What avails it, to tell a man that 
God has threatened him with an endless hell, when in 
the same breath you tell him, that there is no need of 
his going there after all? What avails it to tell a man 
that justice has a long account against him, if at the 
same time, you assur » him that a fit of repentance will 



PUNISHMENT. 



7? 



at any time, settle that account in fu /, and give him a 
free and perfect discharge ? " Quick as the thunder 
follows the lightning, should punishment follow crime," 
for in this way alone can its moral power be felt : and 
it should be as inevitable as it is speedy. 

Another idea that must not be forgotten, is that pun- 
ishment in order to be effectual, should not be too severe. 
If it is so severe that its justice is not seen, or its kind- 
ness appreciated, the weak and the timid will faint and 
fail before it, and the stout-hearted and rebellious will 
despise it, and brave it with a reckless spirit. Shall I 
appeal to facts? Well then it is a fact, that in all ages, 
and in all countries, where the laws have been most 
sanguinary, and the punishments most cruel, there has 
crime most abounded. On the other hand, where the 
laws have been most mild, and the punishments most 
merciful, there have the laws been most respected and 
best obeyed. The history of the world, from Adam to 
the present day, will bear me out in these declarations, 
and the present state of the world will bear witness to 
the same truth. 

In religious matters, the same principle will hold 
good. Go to heathen lands, and mark the influence 
that is there exerted upon the moral character of the 
people by the different systems of religion that prevail. 
Why is it, that crime, in every form, and in all its ag- 
gravation and excess, stalks abroad unmasked in the 
light of noonday ? Is it because the people do not be- 
lieve in gods that will punish them? I tell you, nay; 
for there the drear and dark dungeon of Pluto, with all 
its infernal apparatus of torture, is constantly held up 
before the mental vision of the people , and there the 
seven blazing hells of Mohammed are heated seething 
foot, as a terror to evil doers. Why, then, we ask, are 



78 



PUNISHMENT. 



not the people reformed ? The answer is, that their 
punishments are cruel, and under their fear, the heart be- 
comes callous and hard, and the mind desperate. But let 
us come nearer home. Great are the exertions that are 
made for the reformation of the people of this country, 
and yet we not unfrequently hear that the people are 
growing worse instead of better. May I ask what is 
the reason of this ? Why are not the men of our coun- 
try better ? Is it because they do not believe in pun- 
ishment enough ? In all conscience, are not the power 
of the devil and the fear of hell preached enough to 
content you ? This is the burden of the theme, in the 
pulpit and in the prayer-meeting. The tremendous 
wrath of an angry God, has been proclaimed, and one 
continual blaze of damnation has been streaming from 
the pulpit, for years past ; and every spectre, ghost and 
devil, in the compass of the human imagination, has 
been pressed into the work of frightening men into re- 
ligion. And yet the world is wicked. If there is any 
power in these systems, that power has been most 
faithfully tried. They have been preached powerfully, 
they have been listened to attentively, they have been 
believed most faithfully ; and yet the world is not re- 
formed, and we can scarcely say it is reforming. There 
is no reforming power in them, for they lack the only 
thing that can give efficacy to doctrines of punishment, 
the conviction that God rules in everlasting kindness, 
and, though he smite, in the equity of justice and judge- 
ment, " nevertheless his loving-kindness he will not ut- 
terly take from us, nor suffer his faithfulness to fail." 1 
leave my subject with you, for the present, and I pray 
you, yet again, think of these things. Let no serpent 
whisper in your ears the seductive tale: " Ye shall not 
surely die," for God hath said : " The soul that sinneth 



FUN1SIIMENT. 



79 



it shall die." At the same time forget it not, I pray you, 
he is faithful, and, though he wounds, it is that he 
may heal, and, though he kills, it is that he may make 
alive. 



80 FORGIVENESS 



SERMON VI. 
FORGIVENESS OF SIN 

u Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your God ; speak ye, comforta- 
bly, to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that 
her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's hand double fci 
all her sins. , Isaiah xl. 1,2. 

There are two propositions clearly established by the 
language of this text. The first is, that the people of 
Jerusalem had received a just and adequate punishment 
for all their sins; and the second is, that these same 
sins had been forgiven or pardoned. To those who are 
in the habit of associating with the word pardon, an 
idea of the remission of just punishment, it may appear 
like a solecism, that any people should be both punished 
and pardoned. But this is most plainly affirmed in the 
text, of the people of Jerusalem; and what may appear 
still more singular, is the fact, that they are said to be 
pardoned because they have been punished. The lan- 
guage is, " her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath receiv- 
ed of the Lord's hand double for all her sins." The 
hearer will recollect that, in this course of lectures, 
hitherto, I have insisted, somewhat strenuously, upon 
the doctrine that all sin shall most certainly be punish- 
ed; and I have, more than once, denied, in the most 
unequivocal manner, that there is a possibility of any 
man escaping the reward of his iniquities. In my last 
discourse, I gave you the testimony of reason, scripture, 
and experience, all harmonizing, as I suppose, in the 



FORGIVENESS. 



81 



declaration that the transgressor of God's laws must be 
punished. 

To this doctrine there are, in the minds of many, 
some objections ; and, I may as well remark, that it is 
not surprising that it should be so. From the day that 
our first parents transgressed, down through all subse- 
quent ages, I may safely say, that there has been no 
one thing, upon which the ingenuity of man has been so 
much exercised, as that of finding out some salvo for the 
guilty conscience. Some hiding place from the storm — 
some' refuge from the arm of justice, has been the first 
and highest object of the guilty children of men. It is 
not, therefore, surprising that some of these "refuges of 
lies," should still remain, and that a sinful world should 
still cherish the hope that they can yet escape from that 
justice they so much dread. Notwithstanding the 
word of the Lord declares, as it always has done: — 
" There is no darkness nor shadow of death where the 
workers of iniquity may hide themselves;" yet the in- 
genuity of man has never tired in devising, nor his hand 
in executing, plans for eluding the vigilance of divine 
justice. 

In a former discourse I spoke of the doctrine of atone- 
ment, which has long been thought to offer the means 
of a sure escape for the guilty ; and I come now to 
speak of the doctrine of forgiveness and pardon, which 
is much used for the same purpose ; and it shall be the 
business of this discourse to lay before you the true 
scripture doctrine of forgiveness, and show that it in no 
way conflicts with the idea of a full and adequate pun- 
ishment for sin. In pursuing this object it will be 
necessary to consider, 

L The doctrine of punishment as set forth in the 
scriptures. 



FORGIVENESS. 



This part of our subject has bee:? in a great measure, 
anticipated in my previous labours, and a few additional 
remarks will be all that is necessary. The text says 
that the inhabitants of Jerusalem had "received of the 
Lord's hand double for all their sins." From this it is 
evident, that the justice of God does not recognise the 
principle of punishing some sins, and permitting others 
to go " unwhipt of justice for Jerusalem had received 
for all her sins. 

The expression that they had received double, ought 
not to be understood in its most literal and strict ac- 
ceptation. It is a strong mode of expression, frequently 
used in Scripture, to denote a very exact reward, ac- 
cording to the strict demands of justice. It is probable 
that this form of expression originated in certain pro- 
visions of the Mosaic law. Under that law, the mar* 
who stole, or trespassed upon, his neighbour's goods, or 
cattle, was required to restore double to the owner, and 
this was considered a just and righteous punishment. 
Out of this fact, most probably, grew the expression of 
" rendering double," and it should not be understood as 
intending to teach that any one had received twice the 
amount deserved, but merely that he had received a just 
and equitable punishment. 

It is therefore obvious, from the text, that God not 
only punished the people of Jerusalem for all their sins, 
but that he had done it in this world. Whether all sin- 
ners are fully punished in this world, I will not posi- 
tively say ; but if the people of Jerusalem were as bad 
as they are represented to have been, I think it would 
be difficult to find any worse sinners than these ; and if 
they were fully punished in this world, there is no diffi- 
culty in the supposition, that all others may receive the 
reward of their doings here also. 



FORGIVENESS. 



83 



The popular notion of the demerit of sin is thus set 
forth in the Westminster Catechism. " Question. What 
does each sin deserve ? Answer. Each sin deserves 
God's wrath and curse, both in this world and that which 
is to come." I scarcely need remark, that such an opin- 
ion of the just demerit of sin stands utterly irreconcilable 
with the doctrine of the text ; for it destroys the possi- 
bility of any man's ever receiving the just punishment 
of even one sin. The punishment of a single sin is here 
set forth as the wrath and curse of an infinite God ex- 
tending through all time and eternity. It is easy to per- 
ceive that, upon this ground, the time will never come, 
when it can be said that any man has received a just pun- 
ishment for one single sin. Suppose, for instance, a man 
has been sent to hell, and has remained there ten 
thousand times ten thousand years. Can it then be 
said, according to this doctrine, that he hath received 
for one sin ? to say nothing of all his sins. Most evi- 
dently not ; and when ten thousand ages more shall have 
passed, he will be just as far from having received his 
punishment in full as when he first began. 

But there is still another view of this matter. If one 
sin deserves infinite and eternal wrath, will it please 
some wise D. D. to inform us how much two sins de- 
serve by the same rule ? This is a very important ques- 
tion, and it ought to be answered ; because if one sin 
deserves a given amount of punishment, the common 
sense of the matter would seem to be, that two sins 
would deserve more. And if we are to understand that 
one sin deserves so much that it will take an eternity to 
satisfy the demand, we are anxious to know when the 
time will come, that it can be said of those whose hands 
are stained with ten thousand crimes, as the text says 
of the people of Jerusalem, " they have received of the 



S4 



FORGIVENESS. 



Lord's hand double for all their sins." The truth is, that 

all distinction between crimes is destroyed by this doc- 
trine, and the child who for the first time transgresses 
the law, becomes as guilty, and deserves a punishment 
as severe and lasting, as the hardened offender upon 
whose head is the guilt of twice ten thousand sins. 

Again, the very nature of man is a sufficient refuta- 
tion of the sentiment in question. Man is finite in all 
his powers and capacities, and consequently in all his 
acts, and of course an infinite punishment for any or all 
his acts, is at war with every proper idea of justice. 

Still again, there is no principle of justice more ob- 
vious than this. The guilt of crime must, in all cases, 
be measured by the knowledge and intention of the per- 
petrator. Now, as man has but a limited and imperfect 
knowledge of good and evil, it must follow, as a clear 
and indubitable conclusion, that no man can commit a 
crime which will justly deserve even the semblance of 
an infinite punishment. But not to insist on arguments 
of this kind, the Scriptures do not inform us that each 
or all the sins of man deserve " God's wrath and curse 
both in this world and that which is to come." It is the 
Catechism, and not the Bible, that says this. 

There are other instances, also, besides the text, where 
we have an account of sinners and their punishment, 
and they give us no intimation that the guilty received 
a portion of their punishment in this world, and that the 
remainder was reserved for a future state of existence. 
When our first parents sinned, it is but reasonable to 
suppose, that God would let them know the worst of the 
case. But we do not find, in all the history of that af- 
fair, the remotest intimation that they had rendered 
themselves obnoxious to the wrath and curse of God in 
ft future world. The ground was cursed for man's sake; 



FORGIVENESS. 



85 



the woman was informed that her sorrows should be 
multiplied, and the man, that he should eat his bread 
in the sweat of his face, and that he should return to the 
dust from which he was taken ; and there the curse 
ends. The same is true in the case of Cain, who slew 
his brother. The curse was, "Now art thou cursed 
from the earth, which hath opened its mouth to receive 
thy brother's blood from thy hand ; when thou tillest 
the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee its 
strength ; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the 
earth;" and there is the end of the threatening. 

Now, if it were true that Cain and our first parents 
had exposed themselves to a state of future wo, in com- 
parison with which all the miseries of this life were but 
as a drop in the bucket, why, in the name of humanity 
and truth, did not God tell them so ? Why was he so 
careful to point out the little paltry evils, as they are 
called, of this life, and say not one word to them of the 
more awful and terrible woes to which they were ex- 
posed in the eternal world ? Let this matter be satis- 
factorily explained, and you will do more toward con- 
vincing me that this cruel dogma of endless torments 
may possibly be true, than has ever yet been done. 

Let it be remembered, that our text also refers to the 
case of a most wicked and rebellious people, and I think 
it may be asserted that no people on earth ever deserved 
a more severe punishment than these Jews. None ever 
enjoyed greater advantages of knowing their duty, and 
none ever departed more widely from it ; and yet the 
text says that they had been fully punished for all their 
sins. Now, one of two things must be true. Either this 
people never deserved the wrath and curse of God in 
another world, or the prophet was wrong in teaching 
that they had been fully punished for all their sins ; 101 
8 



86 



FORGIVENESS. 



they certainly had not yet been in another wcrld. But 
if the prophet was right, and these most abominable 
sinners had received a full and adequate punishment, 
then that doctrine which consigns them to the intolera- 
ble wrath and endless curse of God in another world, 
is utterly without the countenance of the divine word. 
This conclusion comes to us' with all the force of the 
clearest demonstration; and I imagine that the wisest 
theologians of the day will find it no easy task to har- 
monize the doctrine of endless punishment w T ith the 
statement of the text, that the wicked inhabitants of 
Jerusalem had received a full and adequate punishment 
for all their sins. I conclude, from what has been said, 
that the idea of punishment for sin, does not necessarily 
involve the notion of future torments. 

II. I come now to speak of the doctrine of forgiveness, 
or pardon, as it stands related to that of punishment. 

" Her warfare is accomplished, her iniquity is pardon- 
ed, for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for 
all her sins." You will readily perceive that the com- 
mon doctrine of pardon, which makes it mean a remis- 
sion of just punishment, is at variance with the text ; for 
in that case it would be impossible that a sin could be 
both punished and pardoned. Aside from the text, how- 
aver, there are many and weighty reasons why such a 
new of the doctrine cannot be allowed. Some of these 
[ may lay before you. 

First of all, justice forbids t. When the law is trans- 
gressed, justice requires tha the punishment should be 
inflicted ; and it is an infringement upon the claims of 
justice, to allow the transgressor to escape, under any 
pretence or for any purpose. 

It may be urged, as it frequently has been, that mercy 
has claims, and thai if we deny tne possibility of an e& 



F0RGIYE1VESS. 



87 



cape, we deny the mercy of God. Where is mercy, 
says the objector, if this doctrine is true ? My reply is, 
that mercy is not, as ye seem to suppose, a mere " ex 
post facto " attribute of God, which had nothing to do, 
or was not bom until man had sinned, and the penalty 
of the law was impending over his head. The fact is, 
the Lord was merciful in the beginning ; and when he 
made the law, he was as merciful as he is now, or ever 
will be. You ask me where is mercy, if the penalty of 
the law must be inflicted ? Suffer me, in my turn, to 
ask a question. Where was mercy when that law was 
made, and the penalty annexed, if she will not allow it 
to be executed now that it is made ? You would do 
well to remember that God was always merciful ; and 
when the law was made, and the penalty annexed, the 
guardian, pitying angel was there, and saw and approved 
both the law and the penalty ; and hence it is not pos- 
sible that she will interfere with the execution of a law 
which she once approved, for she knoweth that God 
never annexed a penalty to his law greater than was 
consistent with the tenderest mercy. If you ask me, 
then, where is mercy ? my answer is, where she always 
was; in God, in his law, in his penalty to the law, and 
in all his works and ways. He is just, but his justice is 
not unmerciful, neither does it, in any way, conflict with 
his mercy. It is not mercy, but weakness and injustice, 
that would refuse to execute a salutary, just, and mer- 
ciful law. 

I know it is frequently said, that the law knows no 
mercy; and it is sometimes true of the laws of man; for 
they are conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity. 
But I tell you the law of God is like its author, full of 
mercy and good fruits; and it is not less a dictate of 
mercy than of justice, that it should be executed. When 



88 



FORGIVENESS. 



the la w was made, the darling attribute 'was there, and 
mingled her tears of pity in the law ; and she never can 
interfere with its execution without becoming weak and 
unjust. 

Again, the common doctrine of pardon, or forgiveness, 
is opposed to the plainest and most positive declarations 
of Scripture. The Scriptures, from the beginning to the 
end, afford not the least possible encouragement for any 
man to hope that he can sin with impunity. On the 
other hand, it is plainly and most emphatically taught, 
that " every man shall receive according to his works," 
and not according as he may happen to be pardoned or 
not. " He that doeth wrong shall receive of the Lord 
for the wrong that he hath done, and there is no respect 
of persons." Such is the uniform testimony of the Scrip- 
tures ; and I have before shown that these threatenings 
are made without the least shadow of a proviso what- 
ever. I need not, therefore, go over that ground again. 
I lay it down as a thing proved, by Scripture, reason, 
and experience, that every man shall be punished for 
his sins; and as the common doctrine would deny this 
fact, and offer an easy escape from the punishment of 
sin, I have a right to presume " a priori," that it is false. 

But how, you ask, can it be true, that men are both 
punished and pardoned ? I must remark, before I give 
the answer, that it is as much your business to answer 
that question as mine; for it is not an objection aimed 
at me alone, but it strikes at the veracity of the word of 
the Lord. It is not my word alone, which says that 
men may be both punished and pardoned ; and hence it 
is not alone incumbent on me to explain the matter. 
Here is the word of the testimony. It says, explicitly, 
that the iniquity of Jerusalem was pardoned ; and yet i 
declares, with equal plainness, that she had been pun 



FORGIVENESS. 



89 



ished for all her sins. It is, therefore, not {ess the duty 
of the objector, than it is my duty, to explain how these 
things can be. 

The great error of modern professors, upon this sub- 
ject, originates in the fact, that they do not distinguish 
between sin itself, and the punishment of sin. We 
read much in the Bible of the "pardon," "remission," 
" forgiveness," " blotting out," and " taking away," of 
sin ; and these terms all mean one and the same thing. 
Now, I wish you to observe, particularly, that it is sin 
itself, and not the punishment of sin, which is said to be 
" taken away," " blotted out," " forgiven," " pardoned," 
or " remitted." We are taught in scripture that God is 
" merciful and gracious, slow to anger, long-suffering, 
and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for 
thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin, and 
that will by no means clear the guilty." Hence we are 
taught to pray for the forgiveness of sin, not for release 
from its punishment. 

Hence also Solomon prayed God to forgive his people 
all their sins ; but we do not find him praying for their 
escape from the punishment of their sins. Let the 
hearer keep this distinction constantly in view ; let him 
withdraw his attention from punishment entirely, and 
fix the mind upon that " evil and bitter thing," sin itself, 
as the evil from which Jesus came to save the world, 
and remember that this is the accursed thing that needs 
to be forgiven, pardoned, blotted out, or taken away. 

Further light may be thrown upon our subject by a 
moment's attention to the original meaning of the word 
as it occurs in the language of scripture. The word, 
translated forgiveness, pardon, &c, is aphesis, from 
aphemi, which means " to dismiss, to liberate, to take 
away." But let me ask, to dismiss, to liberate, to take 



90 



FORGIVENESS. 



away, what ? The answer is, not punishment, but sin 
itself. To pardon sin is not to take away the punish- 
ment, but to remote the sin itself. Take a passage or 
two: "Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the 
sin of the world.' 5 Here the same word occurs, in an- 
other form, which is rendered forgiveness, or pardon, 
and the passage would as well have been translated : — 
"Behold the Lamb of God which forgiveth the sin of 
the world." Again, Christ was sent to preach deliver- 
ance to the captives, and to set at liberty them that are 
bound." Now this deliverance, or setting at liberty, is 
the same as forgiveness or pardon; and, if you ask what 
he delivers the captives from, the answer is, not punish- 
ment, but from the galling chains of sin. Hence it is 
that, in the Old Testament, God is represented as saying 
that, in the New Covenant, he would cause it to come 
to pass that " all should know the Lord from the least 
even to the greatest, and he would be merciful to their 
unrighteousness, and their sins and iniquities would he 
remember no more." This is pardon, or the taking 
away of sin. The man, who is pardoned, has his sins 
removed — he becomes an obedient son of God, and his 
sins and iniquities are remembered against him no 
more, so that he stands before God in the same condi- 
tion as if he had not sinrved at all 

Should it be urged that this is admitting an escape 
from punishment, I answer, by no means ; but it is 
making punishment what it is represented to be in the 
text, the means of bringing about a pardon or a remo- 
val of sin. I have before shown that the object of 
punishment is to put away sin, and secure obedience* 
Justice is not vindictive. It seeks obedience alone, and 
when the sinner becomes obedient, the end of justice is 
answered ; and, whether the punishment has been little 



FORGIVENESS. 



9L 



or great, it is a just punishment ; for justice can never to 
flict another stripe after obedience, the great end of 
justice, is secured ; and hence you will see that pardon 
is consummated precisely where just punishment ends, 
[t was, therefore, perfectly consistent for Isaiah to say 
that the iniquity of Jerusalem was pardoned, because 
she had received of ihe Lord's hand double for all her 
sins. 

It is not improbable that these views may be, to many 
of my hearers, new ; and, for that reason, though I have 
endeavoured to be as explicit as possible, I may not yet 
be fully understood. I shall, therefore, beg your atten- 
tion while I illustrate a little further. Take along with 
you these two principles. 1. Justice requires all men to 
be obedient. 2. Pardon, or forgiveness, is the removal 
of sin. With these principles in view we will take a 
single case, and by that we will illustrate our subject. 
It shall be the case of Saul of Tarsus, of whose forgive- 
ness, I presume, there will be no doubt. He was a most 
violent and bitter enemy of the cross of Christ, and he 
persecuted the Christians with the most unrelenting cru- 
elty. In the full tide of his mad career, he was arrested 
and converted to Christ. He became a willing and obe- 
dient subject of the Redeemer's kingdom. He is no 
longer a persecutor, for his persecuting spirit is taken 
away, and the sin of persecution is blotted out, to be 
remembered against him no more for ever. This re- 
moval of the persecuting spirit, and this blotting out of 
the sin of persecution, is forgiveness, pardon, or remis- 
sion of sin, by whichever name you are pleased to call 
it. That point, I presume, the hearer distinctly under- 
stands. Yes, you say, you fully understand that matter. 
You see, well enough, how he was pardoned ; but you 
do not see how the speaker can sav that he was fu:»y 



32 



FORGIVENESS. 



punished, according to the demands of justice. True, 
Ae must have suffered intensely, for a short time, for he 
was struck to the earth, and was made blind. But, 
then, he was a persecutor, and he pursued the victims of 
his persecuting ragu even unto strange cities; and you 
cannot perceive how the speaker can think that this 
was a just punishment. 

I will, with your leave, attempt an explanation of 
that matter. And first, I will observe, that I have no 
doubt, if a man in the practice of crime, should be 
smitten down, in the streets of this city, by power from 
on high, and be taken up blind, we should hear it men- 
tioned in every pulpit here as a signal display of the 
divine justice. But let this pass. The question is, 
why do I conceive that Saul was punished as much as 
justice required ? The answer is, for the good reason 
that the punishment was effectual in securing the end 
of justice. The only object of punishing, at all, was to 
make him obedient, and when he became obedient, the 
end of justice was fully answered, and it had no more 
claims upon him. I grant you that, in this case, the 
end was speedily secured ; and T grant, also, that an- 
other man might have deserved a much more severe 
chastisement ; that is, it would have taken more to have 
humbled him to obedience, and, in such a case, a far 
more severe punishment would have been just. But, 
in his case, his reformation came speedily about ; and, 
when that was effected, it would have been wrong to 
chasten him more. The idea that I wish to fix in your 
minds is this : There is no rule which says that every 
degree of guilt, shall have such or such a quantum of 
punishment, without reference to its effect, for that 
would be retaliation, and not justice. But the rule is 
this : — Justice claims obedience, and requires precisely as 



FORGIVENESS. 



93 



much punishment as is necessary to secure that end, no 
more nor less. When that obedience is secured, whether 
by ten stripes nor ten thousand, justice is satisfied, and 
equally well satisfied with the ten, as with the ten thou- 
sand, for the sin is removed and a just God will remem- 
ber it no more. 

Suppose you should take your objection to the Saviour, 
and say to him, Lord, thou didst not punish Saul of 
Tarsus enough. He was an abominable persecutor, and 
thou oughtest in justice, to have scourged him more se- 
verely. I pray thee Lord give him a just punishment. 
Methinks, I hear the reply from a just and merciful 
Redeemer. Poor child of weakness, what do you know 
of my justice ? Think you I would seek revenge as 
you would of an enemy ? I saw Saul of Tarsus, and 
verily it was hard for him to kick against the pricks, 
but it was not hard for me. My only object was to make 
him obedient. I smote him, and he fell prostrate before 
me, and said, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do." 
My justice was satisfied, and I took away his sin. 

I may observe further, that though this may be a new 
view of justice in God, yet it is a kind of justice upon 
which you all practise. Go into your families, and look 
how it is there. Suppose one of your children trans- 
gresses, and anon another is found following the per- 
nicious way. You take the first and scourge him. For 
what ? Not for your own pleasure, but for his profit, 
that he may become an obedient child. You give him, 
say five stripes ; but he is stubborn, and it is not until 
he has received twenty, that he submits. Your sense 
of justice is satisfied the moment he submits and you 
forgive him ; you remember his sin no more against him. 
You now take the second child in hand, who is guilty 
of precisely the same crime as the other. You inflict 



94 



FORGIVENESS. 



upon him five stripes, and by that he is humbled to sub- 
mission, and you forgive him. Now the point to which 
I direct your attention, is, that in both of these instances 
the punishment was just, and in both the sin was blot- 
ted out. In the one case, the end of justice was obtained 
by five stripes, and in the other by twenty, but in both, 
the claims of justice were fully satisfied, because its end 
was attained. Should some one tell you, that you had 
not punished the last as much as the first, and that you 
ought to punish him more — you would reply at once, 
that your justice was not vindictive. You was not seek- 
ing revenge of your child, but you seek only reformation, 
and when that is accomplished your sense of justice is 
satisfied, and you can freely forgive. 

Precisely in this light, I look upon the government of 
G-od. He is good, immensely good, and whether he 
sweetly invites by the tenderness of his mercy, or in the 
sterner features of justice he smites in the equity of 
judgement, he is equally good; and when reformation is 
effected, whether by one or a thousand stripes, his justice 
is satisfied and he freely forgives. That forgiveness 
however, is not an omission of punishment, for the pun- 
ishment has already been inflicted, and has wrought its 
desired end. The sin is blotted out, and is remembered 
no more. In this light, therefore, you may see that for- 
giveness, so far from being opposed to the idea of a just 
punishment, is frequently brought about by the punish- 
ment itself. 

I have already detained you beyond the time usually 
allotted to a discourse ; and yet I must beg leave once 
more, to warn you against that most pernicious of all 
errors, which promises an easy escape from the punish- 
ment of sin. Terrible and certain are the scourgings of 
guilt, and I pray you, be not deceived, for u There is no 



FORGIVENESS. 9t 

darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of 
iniquity may hide themselves, for the Lord will not lay 
upon man more than is right." Let the young and in- 
experienced take warning, and beware, for there is a 
God that judgeth in the earth, and all hope of escape 
from the misery of sin is vain. No matter from what 
source it may come. Should it come from the pulpit 
under the imposing name of forgiveness or pardon, or 
proceed from the deceitful workings of a vain imagi- 
nation ; in either case it is but the whispering of the 
treacherous serpent, false as perjury, and deceitful as 
sin itself. The Lord God Almighty has spoken, and 
the wicked shall not go unpunished. 



i • 



DURATION OF PUNISIDIENT^ 



SERMON VII. 

DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 

"For I will not contend for ever: neither will I be always wroth; fbr til© 
spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made." 

Isaiah lvii. 16. 

In my former discourses, I have spoken at large upon 
the object, the justice, and the certainty, of punishment ; 
and it is my purpose, at this time, to discuss the ques- 
tion of its duration. I take up this matter, because it 
is a point in which we materially differ from nearly all 
other denominations of professing Christians; and I am 
anxious to lay before you, in as clear a manner as possi- 
ble, the reasons of our dissent from the general voice of 
the modern church upon this subject. 

The popular sentiment is, that we are, in this world, 
probationers for eternity, and that the punishment of 
sin is reserved to another world, and will be endless in 
duration. Our views are widely different from this. 
We do not believe there is the least possible scripture 
authority for saying that man is placed in this world as 
a probationer for another ; and we are confident the ex- 
perience of every man will prove the truth of that 
scripture which saith : u There is no peace to the wick- 
ed." The very fact that the sinner is, in a measure, 
punished in this world, proves that, instead of being a 
probation, it is, in truth, a state of retribution. 

Whether a full and complete punishment for all sin is 
inflicted on every man, in this state of existence, or 



DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 



97 



whether there is a limited punishment, in the future 
world, is a subject on which Universalists, both clergy- 
men and laymen, differ in opinion. Some believe that 
all punishment is confined to this world ; and others 
that it will extend into the future. In this, however, 
they all agree : that punishment will come to an end, 
and can in no case be endless. Candor compels me to 
say that, for myself, as an individual, I have not suffi- 
cient evidence to convince me, beyond a doubt, that there 
is any sin or punishment beyond the grave. I do not be- 
lieve that the scriptures teach the doctrine of future pun- 
ishment at all; and, yet, I would not very positively af- 
firm, that all punishment is confined to this life. In favour 
of future punishment there are some plausible arguments, 
which may be drawn from reason and analogy ; and as 
a philosophical speculation, I would not strongly object 
to that doctrine. Indeed, if I were allowed to deduce 
my principles from the philosophy of mind, and from 
analogy, I should, most probably, believe in the sen- 
timent But my view of the matter is this : — Neither 
reason nor philosophy, could discover the fact of a fu- 
ture existence, unless aided by revelation. It is by the 
light of revelation alone, that we can discover the ex- 
istence of a future state. Consequently, all we know of 
the circumstances or condition of man, in that future 
state, we must learn from revelation also. Now a man 
may reason acutely upon that subject, and he may draw 
his conclusions with great plausibility, in favour of fu- 
ture punishment, and when he has done, I have only to 
say to him: — Sir, you reason very well, and your argu- 
ments are plausible ; it may all be true, but I do not 
find it in the Bible, and therefore I cannot make it an 
article of my faith. 

I have no doubt that there are many true things 
9 



DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 



which are not in the Bible, and for aught I know, this 
doctrine may be true : and if you hold it as a philosophi- 
cal opinion of your own, I will not object. But when 
you come to say that it is a doctrine of revelation, I am 
bound by my convictions of truth, to say, I have not so 
read my Bible. But upon this point I will not dwell, 
for it is one of minor importance compared with the 
gieat principle in which we all agree, that punishment, 
whether inflicted here or hereafter, is designed for the 
good of the punished, and will end in the subjugation 
of all things to G ^d. This is the great point at issue 
between us and our opposers, and it is this that shall 
be the subject of our present discussion. 

From what I have said in my previous discourses 
upon the nature and intent of punishment, you will 
have concluded that I cannot allow it to be endless. If, 
as I have shown, punishment is in its nature remedial, 
and its object the reformation of the offender, then evi- 
dently it cannot be endless, for in that case it would de- 
feat its own object. 

Again, if, as I have contended, the right to punish 
orginates in the fact, that sin is an evil, which punish- 
ment is designed to cure, then evidently a just punish- 
ment cannot be endless ; for in that case the punishment 
would be worse than the evil it »vas intended to remedy, 
and would of course be wrong in principle and practice. 

Again, if, as I have said, punishment is founded upon 
the principle of goodness, rather than that of revenge, 
then of course it must end, otherwise it could do no 
good. 

Still once more : if punishment is inflicted by a mer- 
ciful God, for the benevolent purpose of enforcing obe- 
dience to salutary aws, then an endless punishment be- 
comes a solecism, an absolute contradiction in terma 



DUUATION OF PUNISHMENT. 



99 



We might properly talk of endless revenge, or endless 
wrath; but to speak of an endless punishment, is as ab- 
surd as it would be to speak of an endless month or an 
endless hour. We may properly say a severe punish- 
ment, or a just punishment, but the moment you add the 
idea of endless duration to punishment, it is stripped of 
all those characteristics that give it the nature of pun- 
ishment ; and it is, in fact, no longer punishment, but dark 
and cruel revenge. 

Besides, if I was right, and if the Bible is right, in say 
ing that every man shall receive the reward of his do- 
ings; then punishment cannot be endless, because all 
have sinned, and, in that case, all must suffer an endless 
infliction of punishment. But not to insist upon these 
points, I will proceed to give you some other reasons for 
rejecting the doctrine of the endless duration of punish- 
ment. I reject it, 

I. Because it is useless, and I have no idea that an in- 
finitely wise God would do a useless thing. 

The infliction of endless wo upon a portion of the hu 
man family, could never benefit any being in the uni- 
verse. Let us examine a moment, and see if we are 
correct in this position. Suppose I were to take you, in 
imagination, forward to the future world. I would lead 
you down to the brink of that dismal hell, in which men 
believe ; and as you gazed upon its dark waves of liquid 
fire, rolling and dashing its shore, u mixed with the 
damned, like pebbles," and listened to the hideous 
groans and yells of despair, rising upon the sulphurous 
vapour that ascends and mingles with the songs of the 
redeemed, and the incense from the altar of heaven, I 
would ask you, what good would result from all this 
world of torment ? Will it do God any good? Nay; 
for he is infinitely above being benefited, even by the 



DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 



happiness of his creatures ; much less can their suffer- 
ings make him more happy, or render more secure the 
stable foundations of his throne. Will it do the angels 
of heaven any good ? No ; for there is joy in heaven, 
among the angels, when one sinner repenteth and turn- 
eth to God. How, then, can they be rendered happy by 
the sins, the curses, and the blasphemies of hell ? Will -« 
it do the saints in glory any good ? Nay ; for their feli- 
city is perfect ; and to say that their joys will be increas- 
ed by the sufferings of their brethren, is to transform 
them into demons of cruelty. Will it do the sufferers 
themselves any good ? No ; for it is to be endless, and 
it cannot, of course make them, at any future time, either 
better or happier. Well, will it do even the fabled 
devils themselves any good ? Nay ; for we are told that 
their case is as hopeless as that of the souls of the 
damned. I ask, then, Cui bono ? In the name of rea- 
son, what good do you expect to result from these un- 
told miseries ? And I say, no man ever has, and I may 
safely assert that no man ever will, answer that question. 

I insist, then, that the thing is useless, in the broadest 
sense of the term; for neitherGod nor man, saints nor 
angels, wicked men nor devils, can reap either pleasure, 
profit, or advantage, from it. But it is not merely use- 
less in itself, for the belief of it is equally useless. Who 
on earth was ever made happier by believing that half 
the world must suffer indescribable and endless tor- 
ments ? Is the mourner comforted, the widow or the 
orphan made to rejoice, the poor supported, the sick and 
afflicted strengthened, or the dying cheered, by faith in 
a burning hell ? Nay ; but it wrings many hearts with 
anguish, and mingles the bitterest dregs in the cup of 
Borrow. 

I may be told, perhaps, that it is not pretended that 



DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 



101 



this is a happifying doctrine ; bat it claims to have a 
most salutary moral influence. But I deny this position 
entirely, and I give it you as the sober conviction of my 
judgment, that no man on earth was ever made better 
by such a faith. The Saviour laid the foundation of all 
Christian virtue in love to God, to be rendered with the 
whole heart, and to our neighbour as ourselves. I ap- 
peal to you, if there is not a most palpable absurdity in 
the thought, that a man should be brought to love God 
through fear of hell, or that he should love his neigh- 
bour because he believed that neighbour would be 
damned. The truth is, the influence of this faith, so far 
as it has any moral influence, is in the opposite side of 
the scale. The man who believes that God sustains 
such a character, that he will, for no purpose, unless it 
be to gratify a malignant spirit of revenge, torture the 
helpless creatures of his creation and power, through the 
ages of eternity, will find it difficult to love him with 
the whole heart. But if he should love God, it is natu- 
ral to suppose that he would partake of his spirit; and 
if he believed that God hated his neighbour, it would 
be natural for him to hate him also; and the more cor- 
dially he hated him, the more would he be like his God. 

I appeal to the history of the church, and it shall bear 
me witness, that effects similar to what the above prin- 
ciples would lead us to anticipate, have followed this 
sentiment in every age. Tertullian, in the third cen- 
tury, was the first man, of whom we have any account, 
who asserted the strict eternity of the punishment of the 
wicked ; and that he partook largely of its spirit, is evi- 
dent from the fact, that he exulted in the prospect of the 
sufferings of his fellows, and said he should " triumph 
and laugh," and rejoice, as he saw the Gentiles writhing 
in hell. 

9* 



102 



DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 



In the dark ages, this doctrine prevailed, and every 
persecutor who raised the axe or lighted the faggot, 
found his excuse in the assertion, that eternal conse- 
quences were at stake, and it was better that he should 
burn the body, than that G-od should burn the soul in an 
endless fire. Its footsteps, in every age, have been 
marked with the blood of victims immolated upon its 
altars, and now, all reeking with gore, it has the auda- 
city to come down to us, and claim to be the peaceable 
and moralizing doctrine of the benevolent and compas- 
sionate Son of God. But I object to the sentiment in 
question, 

II. Because it is unmerciful and unjust. 

That there is no mercy in it, is most perfectly eviden 
even to the superficial observer ; for it says, expressly, 
that not one ray of mercy, or of hope, can ever gleam 
upon the darkness and despair of hell ; and though the 
miserable sufferers shall plead with groans and cries, 
enough to melt the solid rock, for some mitigation of 
their torments, yet their cries will die away in the dis- 
mal caverns of their prison, and God's ear will not hear, 
nor his hand grant them a moment's respite or allevi- 
ation. There is no mercy in such a doctrine, and though 
men may dignify it with the name of justice, or give it 
any other soft name, it is no more nor less than cruelty, 
unmingled and unmitigated cruelty, red as blood and 
black as hell, without one redeeming ray of pity, mercy, 
or justice, to relieve its sombre shadowings. 

But we shall be told, that God is just, as well as mer- 
ciful, and that his justice requires the endless sufferings 
of sinners. I know that God is just, and for that very 
reason, the docmne cannot be true, for it subverts the 
very foundations of justice. Pray, tell me what does 
justice require ? I answer for you :— t requires all men 



DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 



103 



to love, serve, and obey God. He says, ta ont and all, 
"My son, give me thine heart." He claims the affec- 
tions and the obedience of all May I ask if that is a 
just claim, or an unjust one ? Has God a just right to 
the obedience and affections of man — of every man ? or 
does he claim something that is not properly his ? If 
his claim is just, you can see, as well as your speaker, 
where justice will lead you. It would give to God, the 
great Father of all, the obedience of a world ; and its 
claims will never be answered until all hearts are his, 
and all knees bow to him. 

But you say some men will not obey, nor love God as 
they ought. Granted. But what then ? Must God 
connive at their injustice, and put them in a place where 
they can never, by any possibility, render him that obe- 
dience which is his ? And will these two wrongs make 
one right, think you ? I lay the axe here at the root of 
the plea for endless misery, which is raised upon the 
justice of God. I go back to the foundation of all jus- 
tice. I commence with the claims of heaven upon man. 
God claims the obedience of the world, and that claim 
is founded upon the first and immutable principles of 
justice. For this reason, and for this alone, God has a 
right to punish men for their sins. If God had no right 
to the obedience of men, he could have no right to pun- 
ish them for their disobedience. 

The right to punish, then, is founded upon God's pre- 
vious right to obedience, and must always be subservient 
to ,t. It is, therefore, again evident, that the object of 
punishment is not to simply do justice to man, but to 
compel him to do justice to himself and his God. When 
man transgresses, he does an act of injustice. In the 
strong language of the sacred penman, " he robs God." 
Now, the ob'ect of punishment is to compel him to do 



104 



DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 



justice, to serve God as he ought. Hence it is evident 
that justice must for ever forbid the infliction of any 
punishment which would defeat this object, as it for- 
bade the injustice of the transgression in the outset. 

Look at it in another light. The doctrine is, that in 
hell men will transgress the laws of God through all 
eternity, and then the matter will stand thus :- — When 
man sins he does an act of injustice to God — he com- 
mits robbery upon high heaven. For this cause, God 
places him in hell, where he is compelled to sin eter- 
nally ; and so by an eternal series of sins, he seeks to 
satisfy the demands of that same justice which was 
outraged by the same acts in the first instance ! ! 

Singular justice this ! About such justice as would be 
exercised in punishing a man who had committed one 
act of robbery, by compelling him to rob every man he 
meets. As if it was not enough that man had trampled 
upon God's justice in this world, by his crimes, but in 
the next he must needs be apprenticed to the devil, and 
taught to bid stout defiance to the claims of justice 
through a long eternity. And this is justice ! And this 
the course pursued by an infinitely wise God, to enforce 
the demands of that justice which saith, " Thou shall 
worship and serve the Lord thy God, and him only shalt 
thou serve ! ! ! " The thought is too absurd to need any 
other refutation than the mere statement of it in its true 
colors. 

Talk of justice with an endless hell before you, where 
countless millions mourn, and curse and blaspheme and 
trample under foot every principle of justice, for ever 
and ever ! You might as well talk of justice in Saul of 
Tarsus, when he "breathed out threatening and slaugh- 
ter, and compelled men to blaspheme,'' or ye might as 
well look for it in the dungeons of the Inquisition, where 



DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 



105 



torturing racks and engines of torment were plied to 
compel men to violate their consciences and sin against 
God. Justice is no child of hell, whose residence is in 
the dark dominions of sin and Satan. Her origin is in 
heaven, she is the first-born of the eternal, and her res- 
idence is in these bright and peaceful realms where God 
is obeyed, and all hearts render unto him that which is 
most justly his, all honor and blessing, thanksgiving and 
glory for ever and ever ! 

I repeat again, justice requires the obedience of all 
men ; all her acts are subservient to this, and justice will 
never be done till a world of intelligences is brought to 
love, serve and obey that God whose they are, and on 
whom they all depend. The doctrine of the endless 
duration of punishment, denies that man will ever render 
to God the homage and service which is his due. It 
compels men to blaspheme, and crimsons the altar of 
justice with the blood of cruelty and revenge. It is, 
therefore unjust and consequently cannot be true. 

There is another view of the subject, in which the 
injustice of the doctrine is apparent. One of the plain- 
est principles of justice is that which requires that there 
should be some proportion between crime and its pun- 
ishment. Hence a sentiment which annexes an infinite 
punishment to the crimes of a finite being, violates one 
of the first and clearest principles of justice, human and 
divine. Much more I might say upon this point — less 
I could not say. I have merely thrown out these hints 
upon which you will do well to reflect at your leisure. 

To me it is a matter of unspeakable joy, that God is 
just, for I hail that fact as the certain pledge, that all 
crime, rebellion and injustice must one day cease. 

I object to the dGc:rine of the endless duration of 
punishment, 



106 



DURATION OF PUNISHMENT* 



III. Because it is un scriptural. 

This is with me an insuperable barrier to a belief of 
that sentiment. I could receive a doctrine against which 
there were some apparent objections, if I found in its 
favor a " Thus saith the Lord." But when T find a doc- 
trine in itself unreasonable, unjust, cruel and useless, 
and have added to this, the clear testimony of scripture 
against it, T cannot receive it. "Why the very language 
of my text, if there was not another passage in the 
Bible of the like import, would render it a hopeless task 
to make the endless duration of punishment harmonize 
with scripture. "I will not contend forever, neither 
will I be always wroth, for the spirit should fail before 
me and the souls that I have made'?' How can the doc- 
trine of interminable and unquenchable wrath be made 
to harmonize, for a moment, with such a passage as this. 
Does not the doctrine assert, that the wrath of God will 
abide upon the damned in hell as long as God himself 
exists, and that he will never cease to contend against 
them ? And does not the text, as if on purpose to con- 
tradict such a sentiment, expressly and most emphati- 
cally declare, that " he will not be always wroth, neither 
will he contend for ever ! " 

I need not pause here to give you a long explanation 
of the term wrath as applied to God. "Anger resteth 
in the bosom of fools," and as God is wise, we cannot 
suppose for a moment, that he harbors such a feeling as 
we call anger in man. He scourges men for their sins, 
and speaking according to man's views of things, he is 
said to be angry; but it is a remarkable circumstance 
that wherever the anger of God is mentioned in the 
Bible, it is represented as being but momentary, whereas 
his mercy is as uniformly said "to endure through all 
generations." "In a little wrath, I hid my face from 



DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 



107 



thee for a small moment, but with everlasting kindness 
will I revisit thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer." "Sing 
unto the Lord, oh ! ye saints of his, a^d give thanks at 
the remembrance of his holiness, for his anger endureth 
but a moment, in his favor is life. Weeping may endure 
for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." "The 
Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plen- 
teous in mercy, he wift not always chide, neither will he 
keep his anger for ever." " I am merciful, saith the 
Lord, and I will not keep my anger for ever." 

These are the uniform teachings of the scriptures in 
regard to the duration of what they call the " anger of 
the Lord." But how differently do they speak of his 
mercy ! " The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting 
to everlasting upon the|n that fear him, and his right- 
eousness unto children's *e!41dren." " Thy mercy, oh ! 
Lord endureth for ever; let the redeemed of the Lord 
say so, for his mercy endureth for^res^* In these pas- 
sages you will discover the truth of ouiNposition, that 
the anger of the Lord is set forth as being but ..momen- 
tary, while his mercy is enduring as his own throne. 
I say, therefore, that a doctrine which reverses this prin- 
ciple, which limits the mercy of God to a fragment of 
time, and makes his anger endure through all eternity, 
is most clearly and incontrovertibly unscriptural. The 
Bible says, " God's mercy endureth for ever ;" but this 
doctrine asserts that the time will soon come when the 
mercy of God shall be clear gone for ever. The Bible 
asserts that " the anger of the Lord endureth but a 
moment," and that u he will not cast off for ever;" but 
this doctrine affirms that he will cast off for ever, and 
that his merciless anger shall abide world without end. 

The hearer may tell me that we read much in the 
Bible about an everlasting punishment, and it must be 



10S 



DURATION OF PUNISHMENT. 



endless, else such a term would not be applied to it. I 
grant that you may have read of an everlasting punish- 
ment in the Bible, but I apprehend you have not read 
as much about it as you imagine. There is but one soli- 
tary instance in the Bible where the term " everlasting'' 
is applied to punishment, and that is in Mathew, xxv 
46. " These shall go away into everlasting punishment.' 
That is the only passage in the sacred book where the 
phrase " everlasting punishment " occurs. But even if 
the phrase occurred a thousand times, it would avail 
nothing in the case, for no honest and just mode of in- 
terpretation would allow such a construction of that 
phrase, as to make it contradict those other and numer- 
ous declarations of the limited duration of all that bears 
the name of anger in God. Besides the term " ever- 
lasting " is not used in scripture to denote a strictly end- 
less duration. 

The priesthood of Aaron was called an " everlasting 
priesthood." The possession of Canaan, by the Israel- 
ites, was called an " everlasting possession," and many 
other things are called " everlasting," which we know 
have long since come to an end. Such being the use of 
the word in the Old Testament, it is but reasonable to 
suppose that it is used in the same sense in the New, 
and no good or plausible reason can be given, why our 
Saviour should mean more by the term than Moses and 
the Prophets meant by it. Besides if you are not ac- 
quainted with the original language of the scriptures, 
go and consult those who are, and I care not what their 
creeds may be, if they are honest men, they will tell you 
that the word which is translated " everlasting" in that 
passage is exceedingly ambiguous ; that it means a long 
and indefinite period of time, and that the precise length 
of time intended by it can never be ascertained by the 



DURATION OF PTTNISHMENT. 



109 



word itself, but must in all cases be determined by the 
nature of the subject to which it is applied. With this 
principle in view, which was never disputed to my 
knowledge, it appears to me that a candid and ingen- 
uous mind more intent on learning truth than supporting 
a favorite creed, would reason thus : — I find here a word 
applied to punishment which is ambiguous; it may 
mean an endless duration, or it may not ; and this must 
be determined by the nature of the subject. Now in 
this case, the subject is punishment, a thing which 
from its very nature must be limited in duration, and 
which, in the Old Testament, we are often told, can en- 
dure comparatively for a moment only. Hence I con- 
clude, that the word, in this instance, must be used in 
the same limited sense, in which it is used in the Old 
Testament. 

Thus candor would reason ; but bigotry has for years 
been clinging with the grasp of death to the cruel dog- 
ma of endless punishment, and alleging this word as its 
proof ; reluctantly confessing, at the same time, that it 
does not imply necessarily, an endless duration. It is 
in vain, she is told, that the word is often used in a lim- 
ited sense ; that punishment becomes revenge, and not 
punishment, as soon as it is made endless. In vain, is 
she told, that utility, mercy, justice, and reason ; nay, 
even God himself, in his holy word, forbids the inflic- 
tion of endless wo; she has no head to reason, no heart 
to feel, and she perseveres in her reckless determination 
to immolate the multitude of the human race upon her 
altar of cruelty, blasphemously dedicated to a God of 
justice. 

From all that I have said, the conclusion is inevita- 
ble, that the duration of punishment must be limited. 
It is not an end in the divine government, but is em- 
10 



110 



DURATION" OF PUNISHMENT. 



ployed as the means of securing a glorious arid blessed 
result. The precise time of its continuance, no mortal 
man can tell, for that matter God has not revealed. 
Of this one thing, however, we may be certain — it will 
continue no longer than a wise and merciful God shall 
see that it is necessary for the good of its creatures. 
Its end shall at last be accomplished, all things shall be 
subdued unto God, and he shall be all in all." 



JUDGEMENT. 



ill 



SERMON VIII. 
.TUT fj EMENT. 

*'Poi the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father, with his an- 
gels ; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Verily I 
say unto you, there be some standing here which shall not taste death, til! 
they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom." Matthew xvi. 27,28. 

There is not, perhaps, in the whole range of Chris- 
tian theology, a subject more worthy of our attention 
than the doctrine of judgement. That man is an ac- 
countable being, and that God will reward us for our 
virtues and punish us for our vices, are truths that can- 
not be disputed by any man who believes the Bible. 
But when is the world to be judged, and what are the 
rewards and punishments which God awards to the vir- 
tuous and vicious, are questions upon which there is a 
wide difference of opinion. On one hand it is believed 
that the throne of judgement is erected in the earth, and 
that men stand before the bar of the judge of all here, 
in time. On the other hand it is thought, that men are 
probationers for eternity, that justice and judgement are 
not executed on earth, but are reserved to a great and 
fearful day beyond death, and the resurrection, when 
slumbering justice shall ai'ise and slay her thousands, 
and mete out endless rewards and punishments to those 
who stand at her bar, While I avow myself as an ad- 
vocate of the former of these opinions, I shall endeavcar 
fairly to state, and candidly illustrate the latter. 

By some unaccountable means the opinion has obtain- 



112 



JUDGEMENT. 



ed, that we, as a denomination, deny the account Ability of 
man altogether, and discard entirely the idea that man 
is to be judged for his works. It therefore becomes a 
duty, which I owe to myself, and the cause of truth, to 
state, in the outset, that this is a gross mistake. None 
believe, more fully than we do, in the accountability of 
man, and none maintain with more constancy the grea 
truth, that " the Lord is our Judge," and that he wil 
reward every man according to his works. Let it 
therefore be distinctly understood, that the question at 
issue, is, not whether men are accountable beings ; but 
whether their accounts are to remain unsettled till an- 
other world. It is not, whether men are to be judged 
at all ; but whether their judgement shall linger to an- 
other world ? 

The doctrine of a day of future judgement, prevails so 
generally, and is deemed so important, that I shall feel 
myself warranted, in giving it a somewhat thorough 
and searching examination. 

The judgement-scene has been a favorite theme with 
those who appear more intent on exciting the passions 
and alarming the fears, than enlightening the under- 
standing. We have often heard the most vivid and 
glowing descriptions of the horrors of that dreadful day 
when a universe shall stand at the bar of God, and re- 
ceive that dread sentence from which there is no ap- 
peal ; and we have been exhorted to speak every word, 
think every thought, and perform every act, in reference 
to that tremendous day, for which all other days were 
made. There, it is supposed, every thought, word and 
act, will be brought into the account ; and for this rea- 
son, it is thought to be the best safeguard of virtue's 
most holy cause, and to interpose the most salutary re- 
straint upon the workings of the spirit of disobedience. 



JUDGEMENT. 



US 



I doubt not that there are many sincere and honest 
minds who really believe, that the rejection of this doc- 
trine would greatly endanger the public morals, and it 
is but just, that I should view it for a moment in that 
light. 

If we were to appeal to facts, they would give no 
very favorable comment upon the moralizing influence 
of the doctrine in question. Every persecutor that has 
ever lived, has acted, as he said, in full view of his re- 
sponsibility, and with a full determination to stand ac- 
quitted in the great day of judgement. Instead of staying 
the murderous hand, it has armed it with daggers and 
strengthened it in the work of death. In Spain it rear- 
ed an Inquisition, and murdered more than half a mil- 
lion human beings. In our own countiy it whipped the 
Baptists, and hung the witches and the Quakers; for be 
it remembered, that all these enormities were commit- 
ted by those who believed in the doctrine m question, 
and they, every one of them, plead as their excuse, the 
fact of their accountability to God, and their ardent de- 
sire to stand acquitted in the great day of judgement. 
These are facts, written for our instruction and admoni- 
tion on the pages of history, and they certainly give us 
no very strong evidence of the power of this doctrine to 
cultivate and cherish the mild, tender, and peaceable 
spirit of the Gospel. 

Besides all this, if you will look around you, you will 
see daily in this city, and all others, men who believe in 
this doctrine, rushing into the depths of sin notwith- 
standing their faith. The reason is obvious. Men al- 
ways act under the influence of present motives, or 
those that are near at hand. Parents could never main- 
tain family government by teaching their children, that 
they wo \\d recKoo mth them at tl e age of forty, and 



114 



JUDGEMENT. 



reward or punish them at a subsequent period. No 
civil government could exist and maintain its laws for a 
single year, by acting upon the principle that it would 
only, for the present, look on and mark down crimes to 
be punished twenty yaars from date. And if a law, 
whose penalty was deferred for the short space of 
twenty years, would be but a dead letter ; need we 
wonder that men should transgress the laws of God, 
when they are taught that its penalty is removed far 
beyond the line that divides time from eternity? 

The fact is, when a man is about to commit an act, 
he does not pause to consider what will be the remote 
and possible consequences, some hundreds or thousand 
years hence ; but he looks to the effects which, to him, 
are present, certain and tangible. When the thief is 
tempted to steal, I care not how strongly he may be- 
lieve in a day of future judgement, I will venture to say, 
that he thinks more of the present benefits of the prop- 
erty, than of a future heaven, and is far more solicit- 
ous to conceal his crime and escape the State's prison, 
than to avoid the judgement. No man commits a 
crime, under a full conviction that he will be speedily 
and certainly punished. It is putting far away the evil 
day, and a hope of escape, that encourages men on in sin. 
Most unhappily, the doctrine under consideration is ex- 
actly calculated to foster these delusive hopes. The 
sinner is assured, in the outset, that he can contract 
debts to any amount at the bar of justice; and get cred- 
ited to the future world ; and worse than this, that he 
can at any time previous to death, take the benefit of 
an insolvent act, under the name of repentance, and 
cheat justice out of the whole debt. Such views can 
never reform the vicious, nor restrain the spirit of sin. 
Mm must know, that the eye of the Lord is continually 



JUDGEMENT. 



115 



upon them, and that their judgement of a long time lin- 
gereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not, but in 
the day they partake of the forbidden fruit, even in that 
very day, they shall die, and that inevitably. 

But I leave this view of the doctrine, and pass to of- 
fer you some reason 5 * which, in my mind, forbid the idea 
of the truth of mis doctrine. 

L It is like the doctrine of endless misery, a useless 
doctrine. 

The belief of it, as I have already shown, does no 
good, but much positive injury, and the thing itself is as 
utterly useless, as faith in its existence. What saith the 
Scriptures upon the subject of judgement ? " Verily, he 
is a God that judgeth in the e^rth." "Behold, the 
righteous shall be recompensed in the earth, much more 
the wicked and the sinner." Now, if it be a fact, that 
God judges in the earth, and recompenses both the 
righteous and the wicked, you can but perceive that a 
day of future judgement, to judge and recompense them 
again, is utterly useless. 

But the doctrine is not only useless in fact ; it is 
equally so when viewed in reference to the opinions of 
its advocates. So far as I understand the opinions of 
those who maintain this sentiment, they uniformly agree 
that man has an immortal soul, which survives the shock 
of death, and lives for ever. With the exception of the 
Catholics, they also believe, that at the article of death, 
this soul sinks to hell or rises to heaven, and its fate is 
fixed for eternity, and it cannot be altered. Now, if this be 
true, pray where is the utility cf this day of judgement? 

If a sinner died in the days of Adam, according to the 
popular doctrine he went immediately to hell, and his 
case was fixed for eternity. Now, suppose one thousand 
fears from this time the judgement-day should arrive, 



116 



JUDGEMENT. 



and that man should be brought up to be judged. You 
will at once perceive that he will have been in hell near 
seven thousand years, before judgement is pronounced 
upon him. But what good will a trial do him at that 
late hour ? Will it alter his condition ? By no means, 
for we are before informed that his state is fixed for eter- 
nity. If so, then this form of a trial and judgement is a 
perfect mockery, as much so as it would be to disinter a 
man who had been executed for murder without judge 
or jury twenty years since, and give him a trial, and pass 
sentence upon him. 

In no way can I discover any utility in the thing, un- 
less you turn Catholic, and believe that souls are detain- 
ed in purgatory until the judgement ; and even then it 
would not seem perfectly just to detain a man, in some 
cases thousands of years, without a trial. I have no fel- 
lowship or communion at all with a principle which 
would firs't hang a man, and then judge him ; and I hold 
the common doctrine of a day of future judgement, when 
viewed in the connexion I have named, as a perfect 
practice upon that principle, and of course not only use- 
less, but unjust and abominable. 

I know it is said, that this judgement is necessary, to 
vindicate the ways of G-od to man, and affords an oppor- 
tunity for God to show to an assembled universe, that 
he is a God of justice. But to me this looks like the 
veriest subterfuge to cover a retreat from an absurd and 
indefensible position. In this case, it is no longer man 
that is judged, but it is an occasion where short-sighted 
man sits as the judge upon the doings of God ! Are we 
willing to admit, for a moment, that ;he ways of God 
are of so exceedingly doubtful a character that he must 
needs assemble the universe in order to rindicate him- 
self from the suspicion of having done injustice to his 



JUDGEMENT. 



117 



creatures? The very thought is akin tc the worst of 
blasphemy, and the i ian who entertains a notion thai 
he is one among the number of those to whom God 
will submit the decision of the question of the equity of 
his ways, has need of the caution, that he beware and 
not " raise himself above all that is called God on earth." 

II. The second and greatest objection I have to the 
doctrine, is, that it is unscriptural. 

I am free to admit, that the Scriptures speak not only 
of a day of judgement, but of many and different days of 
judgement; and that the writers of the New Testament 
speak of one of these days by way of eminence, as " the 
day of judgement." But if you examine the subject, 
you will find that all these days are in this world, and 
that it is men in the flesh, and not immortal spirits in 
the resurrection, that are to be judged. W e hear much 
said about an awful day of judgement, connected with 
the resurrection, and coming after death, and I doub 
not many suppose the Scriptures abound in such lan 
guage. But if you will take the trouble to examine the 
Bible for that purpose, if you have never observed it be- 
fore, you will be surprised to find how different is the 
language of Scripture from the usual mode of speaking 
upon that subject. 

The fact that the world is to be judged in the right- 
eousness of heaven's justice, is uniformly set forth by the 
inspired writers, as a matter of most lively joy. Thus 
the Psalmisi says, " Oh ! let the earth rejoice, and let the 
earth be glad, and shout for joy, for the Lord is Judge. 
Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof ; the world, 
and they that dwell therein. Let the floods clap their 
hands ; let the hills be joyful together before the Lord, 
for he cometh, he cometn to judge the earth with right- 
eousness, and the people with equity." Very different, 



118 



JUDGEMENT. 



indeed, is this from the terrors that are usual y thrown 
around the judgement of God, in these latter days; and 
I can account for it in no other way, than upon the sup- 
position, that the divine writers had very different views 
of the divine judgements from those that are now en- 
tertained. 

Equally explicit are the Scriptures in relation to the 
time and place of judgement. "Verily he is a God that 
judgeth in the earth;" and "his judgements are abroad 
in the earth;" is the uniform word of the testimony, and 
you will for ever search the Bible in vain, for proof that 
he judges man any where else but in the earth, or at 
any period subsequent to his existence here. In no sin- 
gle instance in the Bible, is a judgement spoken of as 
connected with the resurrection from the dead, nor is it 
mentioned at all, as a thing which is to follow the death 
of the body. I have, indeed, heard men quote Scripture 
after this sort. "As the tree falls, so it lies; and as 
death leaves us, so judgement will find us." " For it is 
appointed unto all men once to die, and after death, to 
come to judgement." These passages are doubtless 
very pertinent to the point, and but for one slight cir- 
cumstance, would unquestionably prove that there is a 
judgement after the death of the body. There is one 
circumstance, however, which, though it may be trifling 
to some, is to me very important, and leads me to doubt 
the clearness and authority of the proof. I allude to the 
fact, that neither of these passages, so often and so con- 
fidently quoted, is in the Bible; but both of them are 
manufactured by men, to support their creeds. 

The first is probably intended as a quotation from the 
11th chapter of Ecclesiastes, where the preacher, in 
speaking of deeds of charity, says, "cast thy bread upon 
the waters, and after many days ye shall find it. Give 



JUDGEMENT. 



119 



a portion to se/en, and also to eight, for ye know not 
what evil there may be in the world : for if the clouds 
be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth, 
and if the tree fall toward the north, or toward the 
south, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall 
be." The other passage is an altered and garbled quo- 
tation of a part of Heb. ix. 27, where the Apostle says, 
" And as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after 
this the judgement, so Christ was once offered, to bear 
the sins of many, and unto them that look for him, shall 
he appear the second time, without sin, unto salvation." 
If you will compare the passage, as written by the Apos- 
tle, with the common quotation, you will find it mate- 
rially different, and even our common translation fails 
of giving the true meaning of the original. For some 
reason unknown to me, our translators have left out one 
word, from the original, and have not translated it at all. 
I allude to the article before the word men, and 1 have 
no fear of contradiction, from any man who knows even 
the alphabet of the language, and has read the Greek 
Testament, when I say, that a faithful translation would 
be, " And as it is appointed unto the men (or these men) 
once to die, and after this the judgement," &c. 

Appointed unto these men once to die. What men ? 
Look at the preceding context, and you will find the an- 
swer. The Apostle was treating of the sacrificial death 
of the High ?riests*under the law, as a type of the death 
of Christ, and of the judgement of the children of Israel. 
Immediately following this typical death of the High 
Priest, and in this passage, he draws out the parallel 
between the two cases : — As it was appointed (in the 
Jewish law) unto these men once to die, (figuratively, 
for the sins of the people,) so Christ was once offered, to 
bear the sins of many * and as the High Priest came 



120 



JT7DG.SMENT 



forth from the holiest of holies, after his typical death, 
to judge the people and pronounce them clean, even so, 
should Christ come, not to condemn, but without sin, 
unto salvation. All this falls far short of asserting that 
there is to be a great day of general judgement subse- 
quent to the death of the body; and I appeal to you, if 
the fact, that men are under the necessity of altering 
the passage, in order to make it answer their purpose, 
is not good proof, that it does not answer that purpose, 
as it stands even in our translation. When men can 
find a clear and explicit " Thus saith the Lord" for their 
sentiments, they will never make scripture to prove 
them. Inasmuch, therefore, as the scriptures nowhere 
mention a day of judgement, as connected with the res- 
urrection of the dead, or as an event subsequent to 
death ; but uniformly represent judgement as a matter 
executed in the earth, I maintain that the sentiment 
which removes it to another world, is most clearly un- 
scriptural. 

There is one additional circumstance to be named, 
and I shall proceed to give you what I suppose to be the 
true doctrine of judgement. In all countries it is deem- 
ed but just, that men should be tried by the laws they 
transgress, and in the same realm, where the offence is 
committed. Now the law of God, was given to man, 
for the regulation of his conduct, here on earth, and I 
Tver most explicitly, and challenge contradiction, that 
vhere is no law in the Bible, which assures man, that 
the transgressor of its requirements shall be taken to 
another world to be judged for his transgression. On 
the contrary) all subsequent enactments, and practice, are 
in the spirit of the first prohibition, " in the day that thou 
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Adam was judged 
in the cool of the evening of the very day he sinned, 



JUDGEME^ F. 



121 



and Cain was called to the bar of judgement while yet 
the blood of his brother was red, and warm upon his 
hands. So the law required, and hence I contend that 
to judge men in another world, for the sins of this, is 
unjust, because man was never made answerable to any 
such law r . 

If I remember aright, one of the grievances set forth 
in the declaration of American Independence, was, that 
citizens of the colonies were taken across the waters to 
a distant land to be tried for offences committed here. 
Now every American citizen is ready to condemn such 
a procedure, and will denounce the British government 
as unjust, oppressive, and tyrannical in so doing ; and 
yet the great mass of them worship a God who trans- 
ports men to another world, to be tried and judged foi 
crimes committed in this, and in him they call it justice. 
I indulge a hope, that the time is not far distant, when 
men will discover that injustice and tyranny though in' 
a God, would be injustice and tyranny still. 

But I pass on ; and come now to speak of the true 
scripture doctrine of judgement. 

It is worthy of remark, that the doctrine of judge- 
ment as set forth in the Old Testament, and as found in 
the Gospel, are widely different ; not indeed in princi 
pie, but in the mode of administration. In the Old 
Testament "God is the judge, lawgiver and king;" and' 
in that dispensation he was the being who sat in the 
judgement seat. But in the New Testament, we learn 
that " the Father judgeth nc man, but hath committed' 
all judgement to the Son." Henceforth then we are to 
look upon Jesus Christ as the divinely appointed judge 
of all, and the question before us relates to the time and* 
the manner of his judgement. 

The prophecies of the Old Testament would lead us 
11 



122 



JUDGEMENT. 



to expect, that although the work of judgement has 
been given to the hands of the Son of God, yet it was 
to be executed, as it ever had been, in the earth. Thus 
Isaiah says, " Behold the days come saith the Lord, that 
I will raise a righteous branch unto David, and a king 
shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgement 
and justice, in the earth, and his name shall be called 
" the Lord oar righteousness." In conformity with 
this, when he came, he announced himself as the judge 
of men, and there are two senses in which he may be 
said to be the judge. 

In the first place, he came to execute upon the Jew- 
ish nation, those severe and extraordinary judgements, 
which had long since been threatened against them, 
and which were at that time near at hand. The proph- 
ets had warned the people, that the day was coming 
when Jerusalem should be trodden down of the Gen- 
tiles, and they should be scattered a proverb and a by- 
word among all people, and the Saviour himself, had 
informed them, that upon them, should come all inc 
righteous blood, that had been shed upon the earth, 
" from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zecharias, son 
of Barachias, whom they slew between the temple and 
the altar." He told them, when looking at the glory of 
the temple, that the day was coming wh en there should 
not be left one stone upon another that should not be 
thrown down, and that there should be a time of 
trouble, such as had not been from the beginning of the 
world to that same time, no, nor ever should be, and 
that this day of sorrow should come upon them, as a 
thief in the night. "Then should all the tribes of the 
•earth mourn, and they should see the Son of Man com- 
ing in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glo- 
iy, and ht shou d send his angels to gather together his 



JUDGEMENT. 



123 



elect from the four winds of heaven," and they should 
dwell safely. He informed them moreover that though 
he knew not the day nor the hour, in which that judge- 
ment should come, yet he could inform them, that that 
"generation should not pass away till all these things 
should be fulfilled." Now Jesus was the executor of 
these judgements, and in this sense he was the judge 
of Israel. And as the day of this desolation was the 
day of the most severe judgement that ever befel Israel, 
or any other nation, therefore, it is called by way of em- 
inence, above all other days of tribulation, " The Day 
of Judgement." To this day, most of those passages 
allude, which speak of the day of judgement. To this 
he alludes in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew, 
where the nations are represented as being gathered 
before him, and separated from one another, as a shep- 
herd divideth his sheep from the goats, the Gentiles en- 
tering into that knowledge of God which is declared to 
be " life eternal," and the Jews going away into a state 
of perpetual chastisement, until the fulness of the Gentiles 
should be come in, and then all Israel should be saved. 

But there is another, and a wider sense, in which he 
was judge. He came to establish a system of religion 
for the world, a kingdom which though purely spiritual 
in its nature, should embrace as its legitimate subjects, 
all the ends of the earth. In that kingdom, his laws 
were to be the rule of action, and his precepts the cri- 
terion by which the actions of men were to be judged. 
This kingdom was to endure through all subsequent 
time, and by its laws all men were to be tried and con- 
demned and justified. In this sense he is the judge of all, 
and the day of the duration of that kingdom, is the day 
of judgement. In this sense, we all stand before the 
judgement-seat of Christ, and give an account to him 
of every thought, word, and deed. 



JUDGEMENT. 



Do you ask for proof of this? I point you to the 
words of mv text: — "For the son of man shall come in 
the glory ol nis Father, with his angels, and then he 
shall reward every man according to his works. Veri- 
ly I say unto you, tture be some standing here which 
shall not taste death, till they see the Son of Man com- 
ing in his kingdom." The hearer will perceive, that 
the coming of the Son of Man " in his kingdom," in the 
last part of the text, is used as synonymous with his 
coming " in the glory of his Father to reward every 
man according to his works," in the first, and they most 
indubitably refer to one and the same time. 

If we inquire when that time should be, the text is clear 
and explicit upon that point : — " Verily I say unto you, 
there be some standing here which shall not taste death, 
till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom." 
There are numerous other passages, which might be 
quoted to the same effect, but for this, I have no time at 
present, and I deem this one fully sufficient to establish 
the point in hand. Men may talk as they will, about a 
future coming of Christ to judge the world and reward 
men according to their works. If there is any confi- 
dence to be placed in his own words, then it is settled 
that his coming to judgement, and to reward every man 
according to his works, was the very time when he 
came to establish his kingdom, and we have his explicit 
and positive assurance, that there were men living 
eighteen hundred years ago, who should not taste death 
till that event should occur. 

I shall leave those who put far away this evil day, to 
settle that controversy as best they can, with the words 
of him who spake as never man spake, and said, " Be- 
hold noio is fhe judgment of this world; now is the 
prince of this world cast out. 



TILE RESURRECTION. 



125 



SERMON IX. 
THE RESURRECTION. 

'* For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." 

1 Corinthians xv. 22. 

The resurrection of the dead is the crowning excel- 
lency of the Gospel of Christ, so far as its doctrinal 
teachings are concerned. The views it gives of the 
character and government of God, are valuable, and 
worthy of being cherished in every . heart; but most 
precious of all its holy and peace-giving truths, is that 
which points to another and a better world beyond the 
dark valley of the shadow of death, and assures us that 
there we shall live in the freshness of immortal youth 
while eternity endures. 

So far as this doctrine in itself is concerned, I shall ot 
course have no controversy in these lectures. In a work* 
already before the public, I have argued that point at 
length against the skeptic, and given my reasons for be- 
lieving that man shall rise from the dead. Those rea 
sons it is not now necessary to repeat, as I am not now 
arguing with the infidel. The resurrection from the 
dead is a doctrine in the belief of which nearly all 
christians agree, and I therefore take it for granted in 
this discussion, without pausing upon its evidences. But 
the object of the resurrection and the state and condi- 
tion of those who shall be raised are subjects upon 

ml ' Ail Argument for the Truth of Christianity.' 
11* 



126 



THE RESURRECTION. 



which there is a wide difference of opinion between us 
and the great mass of the christian world. Upon these 
points I must therefore, dwell at length. 

I suppose no man would feel disposed to contend, that 
God will raise man from the dead without any design 
in so doing. It is contrary to all our ideas of God, as 
an intelligent being, to suppose that he w T ould raise man 
up from the dead for no purpose. 

I suppose it will be admitted further, that the state or 
condition of man in the resurrection must be dependent 
entirely upon the will of God. Man was born to die, 
and I will, for the sake of illustration, suppose that all 
the inhabitants of the earth are dead. Of all that now 
live and breathe, there is not a living soul left. They have 
all bowed before the destroyer, and their bodies have 
returned to the dust as they were. 

Go now and gaze upon that great valley of dry bones, 
and ask yourself, if man can do any thing toward mak- 
ing them live ? You see at once, that he has no power 
to make one hair black or white. Neither is God under 
any obligations to breathe into them the breath of life. 
All ranks and conditions of men are there, and the king 
and the beggar are alike in this respect. They have all 
been unprofitable servants, and not one among them has 
done aught that can give him a claim upon a resurrec- 
tion. God might let them all sleep on, and sleep on 
for ever, and his throne would be free from the charge 
,df having done injustice to a single soul. It is clear, 
therefore, that the resurrection from the dead must de- 
fend upon the free grace or favour of God ; and if any 
man is ever raised from the dead it will be because God 
in his goodness, saw fit to raise him. 

If, therefore, we are dependent upon God's free grace 
for thd resurrection from the dead, then of course, we 



THE RES1/RKECTI0N. 



127 



are dependent upon him for the state and condition in 
which we are to be raised. If we have done nothing 
to merit a resurrection at all, much less can we claim 
any thing at the hands of God, in regard to the circum- 
stances of that resurrection which he gives us. 

This then is the sum of the matter:— When a man 
dies, no matter who he raav be, it is for God to say, 
whether he sha.l live again and having decided, that 
he will raise him from the dead, it is for God, and God 
alone, to say what shall be his condition ; and man has 
injustice, no right to a voice in that matter at all. 

It is reasonable, however, as before hinted, to suppose 
that God would have some object in view, in raising 
man from the dead ; and that object, whether good or 
bad, must depend entirely upon the nature of God. If 
he is a cruel being, delighting in misery, why then it is 
reasonable to suppose that he would raise man from the 
dead on purpose to torment him. 

But if he is, what scripture and nature declare him to 
be, good, supremely and invariably good, then of course 
he can have no bad object in the resurrection. Such a 
being looking upon man sleeping quietly in the grave, 
would not be likely to disturb that sleep, unless some 
good was to be effected by it, for if he could not do man 
any further good he would be sure and not do him any 
harm. I come now to the direct inquiry into the state 
of man in the resurrection, as dependent entirely upon 
the will of God. There is one, and but one out of three 
possible answers to this query, that can be true. 

First, God intends to raise all men from the dead, and 
make them miserable, or 

Secondly, He intends to make a part miserable, and, a 
part happy, or 

Thirdly, He intends to make them all happy. 



128 



THE RESURRECTION. 



"Now one of these three propositions must be true, for 
besides these there is no other possible answer; and it 
is equally certain, that but one of them can be true, for 
if either one is true, the others are false ; and if two 
are proved false, the other must be true. Let us, there- 
fore, with all candor and soberness examine and see 
which of these is true. 

I. God intends to raise all men from the dead, and his 
object in so doing, is to render them all hopelessly and 
intolerably miserable. 

Is there any need of my saying one word more than 
barely to state the proposition, in order to bring out from 
this congregation an unanimous expression of dissent 
from its truth ? I am persuaded, that it is not, for there 
is no man among you, who would not agree with me in 
saying, that the admission of such a doctrine would rob 
God of every attribute that makes his character lovely, 
and transform him into a cruel and malicious fiend. 
What ! God put forth the energies of his power, breathe 
upon the dry bones, and raise a world from the sleep of 
death, and confer upon them immortality for no other 
reason, than that he may torment them and make them 
all as miserable as their natures can endure ! Away 
with the impious thought ! It is a graceless libel upon 
the character of the God of all. To say nothing of 
scripture, all nature around us rises up and contradicts a 
sentiment so utterly at war with every just idea of a 
benevolent and good creator and governor. 

There is much on earth calculated to render the so- 
journ of man here, not only comfortable, but positively 
happy. Much as is said about the miseries of the world, 
yet, if any man will examine his own system, and its nice 
adaptation to the circumstances that sur *ound it, he will 
find evidence abundant and clear, that he was fashioned 



THE RESURRECTION. 



129 



by the hand of a good being, who took great care so to 
make him that he might be happy. The light of the 
sun, the air that we breathe, the fruits of the earth, the 
changes of the seasons, the silence of the night, the dews 
of heaven, and the waters that gush from the fountain are 
all precisely such as are calculated to minister to our com- 
fort, and I might safely defy any man to lay his finger 
upon one of these arrangements of nature, which his 
wisdom could so alter as on the whole, to be a benefit 
to himself. 

Now if G-od had made the earth in such a manner, 
as to render man necessarily and unavoidably miserable;, 
if he had placed us on a barren rock, thirsting for water 
and given us none ; or hungering for food, which the 
earth would not yield ; if he had made our senses con- 
ducive to pain alone, our necessary food bitter, and wate 
loathsome, and kept us all our life long in utter misery, 
w T hy then we might have concluded that he was a ma- 
lignant being, and having brought us into this world 
only to torment us, it was probable that he would raise 
us from the dead for a similar purpose. But when we 
look around us and behold how completely the reverse 
of this is the fact ; when we see all nature pouring her 
treasures at our feet and inviting us to partake and be 
happy ; then we feel that God is good, and the truth is 
forced irresistibly upon our minds, that the same God 
who has given us one life for a good object, will never 
give us another for a bad purpose. But I need not dwell 
here, for I presume there is no man in his senses who 
will contend that God intends to raise all men from the 
dead for the purpose of rendering them the subjects ot 
perpetual and hopeless misery. I therefore pass on. 

II. God intends to raise all men from the dead, for the 
purpose of rendering a part miserable and a /art happy. 



130 



THE RESURRECTION. 



This position does not bear upon its face the g/aring 
and palpable absurdity of the other, and yet, I appre- 
hend that an examination of the matter will show you, 
that it is scarcely less opposed to reason and Scripture. 
There is something a little remarkable in the manner in 
which men look upon this subject. When I say that 
God will raise all men up and make them miserable, 
you start at it as a monstrous thing. You say it is an 
insult to the majesty of heaven, and that it charges God 
with the worst of cruelty. But when I say that he will 
raise them from the dead for the purpose of making a 
part miserable and a part happy, you call it a good doc- 
trine, just as if the number of the miserable could affect 
the principle on which they are made so. The truth is, 
cruelty is cruelty, find it where you will, and whether it 
is exercised upon one or ten thousand, is of no manner 
of consequence, so far as the thing itself is concerned. 

If a man has seven children, and burns them all alive 
m a furnace, you would call him a cruel wretch. But 
suppose he burned only four out of the seven, what would 
you call him then ? You ought to call him a very good 
man, if you abide by the principle you adopt in religious 
matters. But no ; you say, in this case, though he de- 
stroyed but four instead of seven children, he is not the 
less detestable on that account. So here, if it were cruel 
in God to raise all men up from the dead on purpose to 
torment them, then is it equally cruel to do so in the 
case of one single individual. 

I must be allowed to i^ustraic this matter a little fur- 
ther, for it is a subject up. n which men are slow of hear- 
ing. There are on earth I suppose, about eight hun- 
dred millions of human beings. Of these only about 
two hundred millions are nominally Christians. That 
is, they live in Christian countries, and profess to believe 



THE RESURREC1I0N. 



131 



in the Christian religion. One half of these, at least, 
are destitute of what men call a saving faith. They be- 
long to the class called " world's people." Now, adopt- 
ing the popular doctrine, that without faith and repent- 
ance no man can be saved, it will follow, that there 
are only about one hundred millions of the present gen- 
eration to be saved, w T hile at least seven hundred mil- 
lions must sink in an endless hell ! Now, you come to 
me and ask me what I think God intends to do with the 
present generation of the world, consisting, as it does, of 
about eight hundred millions of human beings? I an- 
swer, I believe he intends to raise them all up from the 
dead. So you also believe. But you ask again, what 
do you think he intends to raise them up from the dead 
for ? What will he do with them after the resurrection? 
I answer, I suppose he intends to give them all over to 
the devil, and let him torment them in fire and brim- 
stone, through eternit . . Oh ! you say, that cannot be 
so. But why can it not be so ? Because God is good, 
and he would rather let them all sleep for ever in the 
grave, than raise them up for such a purpose. It makes 
God the most cruel of all beings, and it cannot be true. 
Well, I reply, I am not sure that he intends to torment 
them all. I suppose he will make a part happy, and 
torment the remainder. With this you are satisfied, 
and can see no impeachment of the divine goodness in 
such a sentiment. But how so ? Why, just because 
you have found out, that instead of tormenting eight 
hundred million souls, he only intends to burn seven 
hundred millions ; the former would be very cruei, but 
the latter is a very small affair, of no consequence one 
way or the other. God may be very good for all that. 
Why, my dear sir, what is the difference whether there 
are sev?n or eight hundred millions to be tormented ? It 



132 



THE RESUE.R E CTI0N- 



is the principle of the thing, that I am talking aboutj 
and it was this that you contended for but a moment 
since ; and how is it that you have made the wonderful 
discovery, that a course of action you yourself condemn 
as cfuel, when applied to all, is merciful when applied 
to a part. I call on you to look at the myriads who 
you believe are to be damned, and tell me, if you are 
able, what good object there could be in raising them 
from the dead? I ask you to go down by the gulf of 
endless ruin in which you believe, and as you gaze upon 
the writhings and contortions of the countless millions 
whose fate is there fixed for eternity, tell me if it would 
not have been better to let them sleep in the grave, than 
to raise them up for such a purpose ? This striving tc 
evade the difficulty, by reducing the number of the suf- 
ferers, is of no avail. If it is cruel to raise one thousand 
souls up for the purpose of tormenting them, every prin- 
ciple of reason declares, that it is equally cruel to do the 
same to a single individual. I tell you, what you al- 
ready know, that if a good being can do a man no good, 
he will at least do him no harm ; and when God sees a 
world sleeping quietly in the arms of death, if a resur- 
rection can do them no good, he would let them sleep 
on, in preference to raising them up for ceaseless wo. 
To raise man from the dead, for no other purpose but to 
torment him, would be an act of wanton cruelty ; and 
whether the whok world or a part are to be thus rais- 
ed, is of no consequence ; for in either case, it is an act 
of unpitying malice, worthy only of a fiend of darkness, 
and as such, you may for ever rest assured that it cannot 
be done by a God of infinite goodness. 

But let me ask, what is there in all the works of cre- 
ation, or the providence of God, which could lead us to 
suppose that he intends to raise some men up for end- 



THE RESURRECTION. 133 

Jess bliss, and others for immortal pain ? If I should see 
the sun shining upon some men, and refusing his rays to 
others ; or the showers of rain coming down upon some 
and passing by others; or if I should find the earth 
yielding the fruits and flowers to some and refusing her 
increase to others; why, then I might conclude that 
God had some favourites to bless, and that being partial 
in this world, he might be so in the next. But so long 
as I can look out upon the works of G-od, where his 
footsteps are clearly impressed, and see the sun rising 
upon the evil and the good, and the rain falling upon 
the just and the unjust, and the earth yielding her fruits 
with unsparing impartiality, to reward the labours of all, 
I must remain of my present opinion, that (^od is good 
unto all, and his tender mercies are over all his works, 
and that being impartial here, he will be equally so in 
another world. 

But we may go even further than this. It is a fact, 
which can neither be disguised nor disputed, that the 
circumstances which surround man in the present ex- 
istence, are such that the amount of happiness he en- 
joys is far greater than the misery he suffers. I know 
that much complaint is made of the miseries of the 
world, and we hear much of the sufferings of man. But 
I am satisfied that our joys are underrated in the esti- 
mate of those who complain, and the evils of life magni- 
fied far beyond what they are in reality. Unnumbered 
sources of enjoyment are opened, and innumerable mer- 
cies throng around us, in every avenue of life. The 
causes that conspire to make us happy, are more nu- 
merous than the hairs of our heads, and rivers of plea- 
sure flow down the earth, while our miseries are "few 
and far between." In all the diversified forms of human 
life, the great Creator has so ordered, that the joy shall 



134 



THE RESURRECTION. 



triumph over the pain. You may go the wide earth 
over, and you will find happiness in every nation, tribe, 
tongue, grade and condition of humanity. You may 
walk the streets of the thronged city, where man 
dwells in the blessedness of civilization; or you may 
roam the desolate wilds of the wilderness, where the 
swarthy savage seeks his food with his quiver and his 
bow; you may wander over the bleak mountains of 
Lapland, whose pale children shiver in the midst of 
storms, and frosts, and snows, or traverse the sands of 
Ethiopia, where the sable African melts beneath the 
rays of a vertical sun, and you will find happiness 
among them all. I pledge you my truth, that for every 
tear of anguish that meets your eye, you shall see a thou- 
sand smiles of joy, and for every sigh of sorrow that 
greets your ear, you shall hear ten thousand joyous 
notes of happiness. 

Talk as you will of the sorrows of this miserable 
world; sorrows there may be, but it is a good world and 
a happy one after all, and all our observation and expe- 
rience bears testimony, that though weeping may en- 
dure for a night, joy cometh in the morning. Now, I 
ask, what meaneth this ? What meaneth this rolling 
river of peace, which pours its wondrous flood over all 
that live, and move, and breathe the vital air ? What 
mean these untold and unsearchable treasures of love 
and mercy ? I answer. They mean that God is good, 
and declare in a voice that cannot be misunderstood, 
that when God calls beings into existence, it is that he 
may bless them and make them happy. They lay 
open a rule of the divine government, as immutable as 
God himself, by which he has hitherto walked with 
undeviating steps in all time that has past. The rule 
is, that whenever God puts forth the energies of his 



THE RESURRECTION* 



135 



power, and gives life to any being, he confers a blessing 
and not a curse. 

Six thousand years has the earth rolled upon its axis, 
and generation has trod close upon the heel of genera- 
tion, and more beings have been brought into existence, 
than there are stars in the firmament or sands upon . t 
the shore of the sea. Go, doubting mortal, and bring 
them all up before you ; assemble in one vast congrega- 
tion, the myriads of those that have lived ; and I chal- 
lenge you to show me one to whom life has not, on the 
whole, been a blessing. God has been good to them 
all, and of every one, it may be said, when his head 
was laid in the grave, greater was the amount of his 
enjoyments than his sufferings. By what rule, then, I 
demand, do you arrive at the conclusion, that the same 
God, who has never yet called a being into existence, 
but to bless him, will, in the future, bestow another ex- 
istence upon millions, only that he may curse them ? 
Where, in the history of six thousand years, do you find 
your precedent ? Where the fact that will warrant such 
a conclusion ? 

You may search the record of ages, and it is 
dumb ; you may call upon the dead, and if they could 
answer, there would come up a voice from the sepulchres 
of the past, saying, that their tenants had all been bles- 
sed of God, and warning you against that black ingrat- 
itude, and high absurdity, which would subvert the 
principles which have marked the government of God, 
from creation's morning, and make him do that, which 
he has never done, and which he never can do, without 
belieing himself. 

You may call upon the living, and they will rise up 
against you, and tell you, that God has blessed them ; 
and their very love of life will tell vou, that they deem 



136 



THE RESURRECTION. 



it a blessing, and reproach you with hard and ungra- 
cious views of God, when you believe that he is but 
fattening the-m as beasts for the slaughter, and intends 
to give you another life that shall prove an endless, bit- 
ter curs<\ Thus reason teaches upon the point in hand, 
and her voice is echoed by the scriptures of divine 
truth. 

It is a remarkable fact, that whenever any of the di- 
vine writers speak of the resurrection from the dead, 
they mention it as a matter of most lively joy to all; 
nor do any of them intimate, that in the resurrection 
men are to be divided, and some raised up for one pur- 
pose, and some for another. Paul says : " I have hope 
toward God which they themselves also allow, that 
there shall be a resurrection of the dead both of the just 
and the unjust." Now please to observe, that the resur- 
rection even of the unjust, was, with the apostle, an ob- 
ject of hope. If he had believed that the unjust were 
to be raised up to be tormented, he would not have 
said that he hoped for it. He might indeed have said, 
as men now often say, he was afraid that it would be 
so ; but, as a feeling man, he could not have hoped for 
it. So with all the divine writers ; they set forth the 
resurrection as a matter of lively hope, and whenever 
they mention it they break out in expressions of extatic 
joy. This single circumstance is sufficient of itself to 
prove that they regarded the resurrection state as a bles- 
sing; for had they looked upon it as the means of intro- 
ducing a greater part of the human family into a life, 
worse by far than non-existence, they would have 
mourned over it, as a calamity, rather than rejoiced at 
it as the richest and most valuable of blessings. But 1 
have not time to dwell longer on this point. 

III. Our bird proposition is, that God intends to raise 



THE RESURRECTION. J 37 

all men up from the dead for the purpose of making 
them holy and happy. 

Tf I have shown that the other propositions are un- 
true, then it follows that this, the only one that remains, 
must be true. That it harmonizes with the voice of 
nature, the character of God, and the experience of a 
world, no man can doubt after a moment's reflection 
upon the subject. Nature teaches the impartial good- 
ness of God, reason ascribes to him every possibly great 
and glorious attribute and perfection, that can command 
our love or invite our praise, and there is no man living 
who has not experienced enough to satisfy a reasonable 
being that God is his friend ; and from all these sources 
the presumption, a priori, is strong, yea, incontestable, 
that if God raises all men from the dead at all, it will 
he for the purpose of doing them good — not evil. 

But the scriptures are most clear and explicit upon 
this point. It is true, that there is not much said in the 
Bible about the precise state or condition of man, in the 
resurrection, for the controversy between Christians and 
their opposers, in those days, was rather upon the truth 
or falsity of the resurrection itself, than upon any cir- 
cumstances that might attend it. With them, death 
was the last enemy, and if they proved that God would 
destroy death, it does not seem to have entered their 
minds that they would also be required to prove that 
there would not remain other and far mor » dreadful en- 
emies. Hence they argued that man should rise from 
the dead, and preached Jesus and the resurrection, and 
having established that truth, they seem to have taken 
it for granted that the future life, conferred as it was by 
a merciful God, would be one of blessedness and joy. 
Nor does it seem that they thought it necessary to go 
into an argument to prove that God intended the future 
12* 



138 



THE RESURRECTION. 



state as a most valuable blessing to those who should 
receive it. 

Take an illustration. In the 15th chapter of his 1st 
Epistle to the Corinthians, the apostle gives a more 
particular account of the state of man in the resurrec- 
tion, than can be found in any other part of the Bible; 
and yet this is introduced as an incidental circumstance, 
rather than a legitimate part of his argument. He ar- 
gues the doctrine of the resurrection with great power 
against those who denied it, and proves, from principles 
admitted by his opponents, the truth of the doctrine, 
which he sums up in the words of our text : — " For as in 
Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." 
He continues by informing his hearers that Christ, hav- 
ing subdued all things unto himself, and destroyed 
death, the last enemy, should deliver up the kingdom to 
God, even the Father, and God should be " all in all." 
But he adds, some man will say, " How are the dead 
raised up, and with what bodies do they come forth ?" 
Mark his answer. " Thou fool." As much as to say, 
that every man ought to understand that matter, and 
none but an ignorant man would ask such a question. 
He goes on, however, to answer it. He says there are 
celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies, natural bodies 
and spiritual bodies, differing in glory, and intimates 
that they ought to know that man, when raised from 
the dead, would be spiritual. "As is the earthy so 
are they that are earthy, and as is the heavenly 
so are they that are heavenly." And thus he con- 
cludes : — u It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incor- 
ruption; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it 
is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a 
natural body, it is raised a spiritual body." 

Similar remarks will apjly to the conversation of oui 



THE RESURRECTION. 



139 



Saviour with the Sadducees. They had imagined a 
resurrection state altogether analogous to this world, and 
came to him with an objection founded upon the case of 
the woman who had seven husbands, desiring to know 
whose wife she should be of the seven in the resurrec- 
tion. He at once charged them with ignorance in pro- 
posing such a question. " Ye do err not knowing the 
scriptures, nor the power of God, for in the resurrection 
they neither marry nor are given in marriage ; but are 
as the a igels of God which are in heaven." 

Here I rest upon this point ; if there is truth in the 
testimony of Paul, or in the words of the Saviour, then 
is it settled, that the state of man, in the resurrection, 
is one of immortality, incorruption, glory, and power, 
such as is enjoyed by the angels of God which are in 
heaven ; nor is there the least possible authority for say- 
ing, that man shall be raised in two classes, one like 
the angels of God in heaven, and the other like the 
devils that are in hell 1 



14C 



DESTRUCTION OF DEATH* 



SERMON X. 
DESTRUCTION OF DEATH. 

" And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, noithos 
shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away." 

Revelation xxi. 4. 

In my last lecture I spoke* of the resurrection of the 
dead, as the crowning excellency of the Gospel. I at- 
tempted to show from reason, experience and all that 
we know of the character and government of God, that 
it was even more t^an probable, if he raised man from 
the dead at all, it would be for the benevolent purpose 
of making him holy and happy. I also showed you, 
very briefly, that the scriptures in this respect harmo- 
nize with reason and experience. 

In the present discourse I intend to give you another 
view of the same subject, and I shall attempt to show 
you that the resurrection state, as presented in the Gos- 
pel, is one of immortal blessedness and felicity. In this 
world, pain, sickness, sorrow and death are ills neces- 
sarily incident to humanity ; but in that better and hap- 
pier land, these things shall be no more. Pain, sorrow 
and crying, and all that bears the name of death, shall 
be done away, and shall be found no more for ever. 
Such is the clear and explicit doctrine of my text, and 
it is difficult for me to conceive how ingenuity or sophis- 
try can torture any thing else out of it. I will not there- 
fore, consume time in discussing the question, whether 
the text does or does not teach that doctrine; for its 



DESTRUCTION OF DEATH. 



141 



language is too plain and positive to admit of a doubt 
in the candid and honest mind, which is not warped by 
prejudice, or darkened by superstition. 

I will rather give you some additional reasons for be- 
lieving that a result so grand and glorious, is ordained 
in the firm counsels of God, and must certainly be 
realised. 

I. The scriptures elsewhere affirm the same heart- 
cheering and soul-reviving sentiment. 

For myself it would not require a miracle, nor the oft 
repeated testimony of the divine word, to produce in my 
mind the conviction, that a doctrine so perfectly con- 
sonant to all that I know of God is true. I see the 
evidences of divine love so legibly written out upon the 
lace of nature and providence, and I have experienced 
so much of the goodness of God, that I am prepared to 
believe any thing good of him. The prophet asks, " Is 
any thing too hard for the Almighty ?" The answer is, 
no. I ask, is any thing too good for God to do ? And 
my joyful spirit answers, nay. There is no good, how- 
ever great, no blessing, however valuable, that we may 
not anticipate from his hand. 

If therefore, the final and immortal blessedness of the 
world were only whispered from on high, in a solitary 
instance, I would seize upon that whisper and hold it as a 
precious and sure foundation of hope. But it unfortu- 
nately happens, that an ungrateful world of mortals are 
far more ready to believe evil than good of God. You 
may depict before them a burning hell, filled with the 
great multitude of the human race, writhing in the 
flames of everlasting torments, and God sitting upon a 
throne high and lifted up, mocking their dismal groans, 
and laughing at the contortions of deathless pain. All 
this you may say of your Fati er, and the public ear will 



142 



DESTRUCTION OF DEATH. 



be open to receive the perjured lie, and the nearts if the 
people will willingly believe even this blackest, foulest 
slander of heaven's gracious Lord and King ! 

From Adam U the present day, men have shown by 
their conduct and their faith, that they are far more 
ready to believe evil than good of God. They will 
sooner believe that God will do them harm than bless 
them. For this cause, it is that the Bible abounds 
in " exceedingly great and precious promises," and gives 
" line upon line and precept upon precept," for it know- 
eth that men are slow of heart to believe, and prone to 
stagger at the promises of God through unbelief. 

Could I call back from the abodes of the blessed on 
high the great Apostle of the Gentiles, the master-spirit 
of that band of worthies who took their lives in their 
hands, and went forth to proclaim the great salvation, 
he would point to Jesus, and say, as he said in the days 
of his flesh, " he must reign." Aye, " he must reign 
until he hath put all enemies under his feet, and the last 
enemy death shall be destroyed." He would tell you 
that "for this purpose the Son of God was manifested, 
that he might destroy death, and him that had the power 
of death, and deliver those who through fear of death 
were all their lifetime subject to bondage ; " that * c this 
mortal shall put on immortality, and this corruptible 
shall put on incorruption, and then shall be brought to 
pass the saying, that is written, "death is swallowed up 
in victory ; " and he would close with the triumphant 
doxology, " Oh grave where is thy victory ! oh death 
where is thy sting ? " " Thirty long years did I preach 
this doctrine, and labor and toil and suffer in its defence. 
For it I was persecuted ; I breathed the noisome vapor 
of the dungeon ; I bore upon my limbs the galling chains ; 
I submitted my back to the scourge till it ran down 



DESTRUCTION OF DEATH, 



143 



with gore ; I bore the bruises of stones that were hurled 
by my enemies ; and all that I might preach the un- 
searchable riches of Christ. Therefore did I both labour 
and surfer reproach, because I trusted in the living God, 
who is the Saviour of all men, especially of them that 
believe. 

Could I call upon the spirit that touched Isaiah's hal- 
lowed lips with a coal from the altar of truth in heaven, 
I should hear repeated again, what is already written 
for your instruction, " He will swallow up death in vic- 
tory, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all 
faces, and he will destroy the face of the covering cast 
over all people, and the veil that is spread over all 
nations, and the rebuke of his people shall he take away 
from all the earth, for the Lord hath spoken it." " The 
ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion, 
with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads, they 
shall find joy and gladness, and sighing and sorrowing 
shall flee away." Indeed all the prophets have spoken 
of these things, for an Apostle says, " God has spoken 
of the times of the restitution of all things by the 
mouth of all his holy prophets, since the world began." 
Not one of them has failed, but they have all spoke of 
these times, and borne their testimony that there shall 
come a time when sin and sorrow, pain, crying and 
death, shall be known no more. 

I may as well pause here as any where, for there is 
no end to testimony of this kind, and if the clear and 
explicit word already quoted does not produce conviction, 
no amount of evidence would be sufficient; for if men 
will not believe Moses and the prophets, neither would 
ihey be persuaded though one should rise from the dead, 
I lay it down therefore, as a doctrine established by the 
concurrent testimony of all God's holy prophets since 



144 



DESTRUCTION OF DEATH. 



the world began, that all sorrow and crying shall cease* 
and pain and death shall be no more. 

I know the objection that will rise in the minds of my 
hearers here. I shall be told that I quote only the 
promises of the Gospel, but I pass by the threatenings 
of the law. Though there are many great and precious 
promises > there are also severe threatenings. But what 
then ? Is the law against the promises ? I answer, as 
the Apostle answered, " By no means," and I say as he 
said, " The covenant which was before confirmed of God 
in Christ, the law which came four hundred and thirty 
years afterward, cannot disannul, that it should make 
the promises of God of none effect." I know, as well 
as you can know, that there are many threatenings in 
the law, but I tell you that these are not against the 
promises, and when you explain them in such a manner 
as to make them conflict with the promises, you pervert 
them. I care not how ingenious your reasoning, or how 
plausible your conclusion, here is the rule laid down by 
the Apostle, " The law is not against the promises," and 
if you make it so by your explanation, your explanation 
is wrong. This is a rule that you are bound to follow ; 
for I maintain you have no right to give such inter- 
pretations of the law as will set it against the promises. 

A Ve are frequently accused of explaining away and 
perverting the threatenings, and I must illustrate this 
matter, for by it we are frequently thrown into a false 
position. Here is the covenant, it promises with the 
most solemn certainty, that there shall come a time 
when there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor 
crying, neither shall there be any more pain. The ob- 
jector brings up one of the threatenings, as for instance, 
"These shall go away into everlasting punishment ;" 
and he asks me, how I will explain it consistently with 



DESTRUCTION OF DEATH. 



145 



my views ? Now suppose I could not do so a id suppose 
also, there were a hundred other passages of the same 
kind, which I could not explain in accordance with my 
text ; why, the mass of community would cry out, that 
the Universalist was confounded, and his doctrine false. 
But stop f a moment. This should be my answer:— I tell 
you sir, frankly, that I do not know what that passage 
or these passages mean. They are to me dark. But I 
can tell you what they do not mean. They do not 
mean any thing contrary to the covenant of eternal mer- 
cy and truth ; for the law is not against the Gospel ; and 
I think it more likely that you, sir, are mistaken than 
that God should contradict, in one part of his word r 
what he has said in another. God has said there shall! 
be no more pain, sorrow, nor crying, and though I know 
not the meaning of that passage, I do know that he 
does not there contradict himself, and teach endless 
pain and sorrow. 

Do you tell me that such is the obvious import of the 
passage ? My answer is, then the two passages contra- 
dict themselves, and it is not my business, but your3, to 
explain the matter. I am not willing to undertake, gra- 
tuitously, the labour of extricating you from your own- 
contradictions ; and if I do so, I protest most seriously 
that you shall not stand by and tauntingly accuse me of 
explaining away the meaning of the Scriptures. I tell* 
you, yet once more, that the law is not against the 
promises, and if you, by your explanations, set them at 
variance, it is your business to get out of the difficulty; 
and if you will not allow me so to explain the law that 
it shall agree with the promises, I shall turn you over 
to the infidel, whose mouth you fill with arguments, say- 
ing, your Bible is a bundle of contradictions^ pi omising 
in one place what it denies in another. 
13 



146 



DESTRUCTION OF DEATH. 



I have made these remarks upon the supposition that 
no man can so explain the threatenings, that they shall 
clearly be seen to harmonize with the promises. But 
this I am not willing to grant for truth. I will not say 
what I can do, but I do say, that there is no threatening 
of the law which is not susceptible of a reasonable and 
consistent explanation, in perfect accordance with the 
spirit of the promises. 

It surely cannot be expected of me, that I shall take 
up all the threatenings of the law, and explain them in 
this discourse. I will take a single one, and that shall 
be the one already quoted, " These shall go away into 
everlasting punishment." If by the word everlasting, 
here, you understand a strictly endless duration, it will 
at once be seen that the passage contradicts that sacred 
promise of the G-ospel, which guarantees that the time 
shall come when tears shall be wiped from all faces, and 
there shall be no more pain, neither sorrow nor crying. 
But is the law against the promises? The Apostle says, 
No. Well, then, your exposition of the text is wrong. 
What shall be done ? Why, just turn to the Old Testa- 
ment, and see how the writers used the word ever- 
lasting. There you read of an "everlasting priesthood," 
of an " everlasting possession " of the land of Canaan by 
the children of Israel; and many other things are called 
everlasting, which we know either have or must come 
to an end. Why, then, may we not suppose that Jesus 
used the word in the same sense that it was used in the 
Old Testament, and thus avoid the absurdity of making 
the Scriptures contradict themselves? In this sense of 
the word, there is perfect harmony between the threat- 
enings and the promises; and though the penalty of the 
law is executed, it wL. not prevent the fulfilment of the 
promises. 



DESTRUCTION OF DEATH. 



147 



But I observe again, The very fact that G(d thieatens 
in the Bible to punish sin, is a proof that such a time as 
is named in my text will come. Suppose, for instance, 
our rulers should make laws, and annex to them no pen- 
alties, and that the executors of the laws should take no 
notice of transgression. Would not the inference be un- 
avoidable, that our legislators cared not for obedience to 
the laws ? But let them make laws, and guard them 
by proper penalties, and then let us see the officers of 
justice vigilant in seeking out and visiting the penalty 
of the laws upon the guilty. Then may we conclude 
that our rulers are opposed to crime, and determined to 
suppress it. So in this case, if God did not threaten to 
punish sin, we might conclude that obedience and dis- 
obedience were alike to him. But when we see his law 
guarded by a penalty, and read that " the wrath of God 
is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness," 
we hail it as a proof that God is the friend of virtue, 
which is peace, and that he is opposed to all sin, and 
determined to suppress it; aye, to uproot it from the 
universe. 

Bring out, now, your threatenings of the law ; array 
them all before me, and shout in anticipation of victory. 
Your triumph is short. You are proving the very thing 
you would disprove. I allow there are many threaten- 
ings in the Bible. But what then ? Are these threaten- 
ings against the promises ? Once more, I tell you nay. 
They are the proof that God is the friend of order, law, 
virtue, and happiness; that he is the enemy of sin and 
misery, and that he will destroy them for ever, and ful- 
fil his gracious promises in the establishment of univer- 
sal holiness and felicity. 

Thus much I have felt myself in duty bound to say, of 
the threatenings of the law and I have done so, because 



148 



DESTRUCTION OF DEATH. 



it was impossible for me to take up, one by one, these 
threatening, and explain them; and because these 
principles of interpretation will put it in your power to 
explain them for yourselves, so far as their bearing upon 
the question before us is concerned. Take this rule 
along with you, and you need not err. " The law is not 
against the promises," and when you find any explana- 
tion of a threatening of the law, which makes it contra- 
dict the promises of God, be assured that explanation is 
wrong. But I pass on and remark, 

II. The very constitution of man ib proof of th * truth 
of our main position. 

In all the ever-varied and changing circumstances of 
human life, there may be found in man a firmly-seated 
principle, which leads him onward, and bears him up- 
ward, to immortality ; a principle that yearns for future 
life, and pants for deliverance from the grave. Now, 
there is no other way in which I can account for this 
fact, but upon the supposition that the same God who 
has planted this seed in an earthly soil, has determined 
that it shall spring up, and grow, and ripen, in a better 
world. Otherwise, man would have been made like the 
beasts, with no hope or wish extending into the future. 

But there is another view to be taken of this matter. 
The text points not only to the triumph over death, but 
to the end of pain, sorrow, and crying. It is worthy of 
some consideration, that none of these are elements of 
the mind. We shrink from pain with instinctive dread, 
and we would avoid all sorrow. Had it been the inten- 
tion of the wise Creator that man should be eternally 
the subject of pain and sorrow, he would have so made 
him, that these should have been the elements of the 
mind, and necessary to his comfoi table existence. This 
be has not done, and hence w? iifer, that they are not 



DESTRUCTION OF DEATH. 



149 



ends in the divine government, but sin. ply the means 
employed to promote other ends. In thk imperfect 
state, they maybe necessary as a medicine, but they 
are not food; and in that blessed land whose inhabitants 
shall never say " I am sick," they will not be needful. 

I might push the argument further, and show you, 
from the very first principles of philosophy, that the 
endless continuance of pain and sorrow is impossible. 
The tendency of all pain is to corrode and destroy, and 
if it preys continually upon the mind or body, it will de- 
stroy it. If, therefore, man, in the other world, shall be 
the subject of perpetual pain, he must also be the sub- 
ject of death ; and even then it could not be of endless 
duration; because it would cease, for the same reason 
'hat nre will go out when it has consumed the fuel upon 
whicn it feeds. These are mere hints, thrown out with 
a hope that my hearers will reflect upon them at their 
leisure. 

III. The character of God affords strong ground for 
hope that tnis text will be fulfilled. 

That God is possessed of infinite wisdom, power, and 
goodness, no man who believes the Bible can question 
Now, it will not be disputed, that a God of infinite wis 
dom could, if he were so disposed, devise a plan, which 
if carried into effect, would result in the final and com- 
plete happiness of all the creatures of his creation. There 
is just as little doubt that infinite goodness would seek 
this, ihe best of all possible objects. Neither can it be 
doubted that almighty power could execute the plan 
suggested by goodness and contrived by wisdom. It is 
therexore evident, that the result of the combined action 
of these admitted attributes of the Deity, is the very 
thing for which we are contending, and this conclusion 
cannot be avoided without denying the perfection of one, 
13* 



150 



DESTRUCTION OF DEATH. 



or all these attributes of God. If we say he could not 
do it, we limit his wisdom or power, and if we say he 
would not, we deny his goodness ; and in either case we 
deny that God which the Bible sets forth, and all na- 
ture teaches us to adore. 

Still again, there is no conceivable good that could 
result from* the endless continuance of dc?uh, pain, and 
sorrow. Though we shudder at the thought of death, 
yet sober reason will tell us, that in this world it is 
needful that we should die. Viewed in the light of the 
blessed Gospel, death is 

u The door to everlasting bliss," 

and it comes to man as a friend, and is 

11 But the voice that Jesus sends, 
To call us to his arms." 

In this light we can see how a wise and kind Father 
could introduce death into the world. The mind thus 
enlightened can sentimentally adopt the language of the 
poet, and say, 

u I would not live alway away from my God, 
Away from yon heaven, that blissful abode, 
Where the rivers of pleasure roll o'er the bright plains, 
And the noontide of glory eternally reigns." 

The same is true of all the pains, sorrows, and afflic- 
tions of this life. Viewing them as means, and not 
ends, of the divine government, we can say that they 
are the well-intended chastisements of a faithful friend, 
designed to train us for the skies, and wean our affec- 
tions from that world which we must shortly leave 
In this view, we can see the goodness of God shining 
out from tht darknesf of the grave, and from every cloua 



DESTRUCTION OF DEATH. 



151 



oi sorrow, like a beautiful bow of promise, from the 
lowering storm, which God has made the token of his 
steadfast covenant. 

But once admit that death, and pain, and sorrow, are 
to remain for ever, and the aspect of things is fearfully 
changed. In vain may you then ask for any good result 
from these existences, for neither God, nor man, nor 
angels, nor demons, could reap either pleasure, ease, 
profit, or advantage, from them. On the contrary, the 
effect would be evil, and only evil, and that continually. 
Hence I say, that the character of God, as a good being, 
forbids their endless existence, and speaks eloquently in 
favor of the doctrine of my text 

IV. The fourth, and last reason 1 offer in support of the 
position assumed, is found in the text itself. "For the 
former things are passed away." I understand the re\ e- 
iator here to teach, that all the causes of death, pain, 
sorrow, and crying, shall pass away, and this is a good 
reason why the effect shall cease also. For if the foun- 
tain is dried up, the streams must of course cease to flow. 

What is the cause of death ? If you allude to natural 
death, it is the necessary effect of nature's laws operat- 
ing on a mortal body ; and if you allude to moral death, 
it is the effect of sin. But these pass away. The word 
of the testimony is, that "as we have borne the image 
of the earthly, so we shall bear the image of the heavenly, 
and as we were sown a mortal body, we shall be raised 
a spiritual body." Here, then, you may see that man 
shall leave mortality in the grave, and rise in the 
strength of a new and immortal constitution, and thus, 
the causes of death having passed away, " there shall 
be no more death." 

Look at it in (mother light. The cause of moral death 
is sin. But the carnal mind must pass away, and with 



52 



DESTRUCTION DF DEATH. 



it all those lusts and passioi s which lead men into sin. 
There, in that better world, man shall be spiritual, im- 
mortal, and incorruptible, and he shall sin no more for 
ever. All sorrow, crying, and pain, shall pass away, for 
the same reason — the causes that produce them shall be 
found no more to exist. 

What are the causes of pain and sorrow ? I answer, 
they are many. First upon the catalogue is sin, the 
" prolific mother of all our woes." But this shall pass 
away, for Jesus must reign until he hath subdued all 
things unto himself, and God shall be all in all. Then 
shall the deepest, darkest, bitterest fountain of human 
wo be dried up, and man shall no more feel the pangs 
of guilt, nor writhe under the scourgings of remorse and 
fear, for holiness, and peace, shall reign in all the souls 
that God has made. 

But ignorance and error are causes of much sorrow 
and crying. Man is ignorant, and he knows not the 
God that made him, nor his own destiny. He pictures 
to himself a God of wrath and fury, and trembles like a 
slave before him. On the wings of imagination he goes 
forward to the future world, and superstition rears her 
fabled hell, and peoples it with thronging millions of 
the human race, and bids man behold there his possible, 
nay, even probable home. Fathers mourn for their sons, 
and mothers for their children ; not as Rachael, because 
they are not ; but because they fear that they are either 
suffering, or in danger of suffering the torments of the 
eternal pit. 0 ! who can tell how deep the tide, and 
how awful the amount of sorrow that every day wit- 
nesses, as the effect of this God-dishonoring and joy- 
killing superstition of the world But these shall pass 
away. The light of eternity shall unveil the king in 
his beauty, and pour a flood of glory upon the vision of a 




DESTRUCTION OF DEATH. 153 

risen, purified, and exalted world. Then shall the 
things which prophets and patriarchs saw, through a 
glass darkly, be seen face to face; and the fulfilment of 
all that has been spoken, shall reveal to man the fact, 
that God's grace has made him the heir of an inheri- 
tance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. 
Then truth shall be victorious, and all error be lost in 
eternal day, "and there shall be no more death, neither 
sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, 
for the former things are passed away." Such is the 
final result of the divine government, and truly it is 
worthy of a God ! 

I look around me on earth, and I see death riding 
forth conquering and to conquer. He whets his glitter- 
ing sword, and the young, and the strong, fall before 
him. He bends his bow, and the arrow speeds for the 
life of his fated victim. I look again, and my fellows 
are falling, as leaves before the chilling blast, into the 
grave. I look to the future, and I know that when a 
few more years, at most, are passed, our heads will be 
low, and the sad funeral knell shall be sounded over the 
last of all that now live and breathe the vital air. I see 
the tears falling fast and freely, from the eyes of the 
afflicted, and the cast down, and I hear the sigh of the 
widow, and the moan of the orphan, borne upon every 
passing gale that blows. But I remember that these 
things are but for a season. Soon, very soon, all the 
myriads of the human family shall be delivered, and 
shall feel sorrow and pain no more for ever. 

But I cannot pause here. I look to the heavens, and 
they are garnished with stars, and I remember that 
these stars, though but specks to us, are worlds so large, 
that our earth is but an atom in the comparison. The 
presumption is that God has peopled their solitudes, 





154 



DESTRUCTION OF ^EATH. 



and caused them to swarm with life and intelligence. 
Whether the fair face of the moon, and the stars, is ever 
wet with the tears of anguish, or whether death there 
reigns, we have not been certified. But this one thing 
we may conclude. If sympathizing natures now weep 
in other worlds, or death now sways his sceptre over 
other intelligences, or sin has reared his head in the distant 
stars, it shall not be so always, for these things shall pass 
away, and in all the universe of God, there shall be no 
more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall 
there be any more pain. While far, far beyond this 
earthly sphere, system rolls on system, and world on 
world, and distant planets wheel their endless circles 
round their centres, and these again round one common 
centre, God — so shall it be in the moral universe. Dis- 
cord and strife shall cease. God's hand shall move on 
his own undisturbed affairs in perfect harmony and 
peace. The last tear shall fall from the eye of sorrow, 
and the last sigh of anguish shall be hushed in the 
silence of perpetual joy, nor shall weeping be heard 
again while God's throne shall stand. 

u No sigh, no murmur, the wide world shall hear, 
From every face, he wipes off every tear, 
In adamantine chains shall death be bound, 
And hell's grim tyrant feel the eternal wound." 

Such is the plan of God, and such the grand consum- 
mation to which the text points the eye of faith! 

Praise the Lord ! all the ends of the earth ! 

Praise him ! sun, moon, and stars ! 

Praise him ! ye heavens, and ve waters that are above 
the heavens ! 

Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord ! 
Oh ! speak good of his name, for he is good, and his 
mercy endureth for ever. 



NATURE OF SALVATION, 



155 



SERMON XI. 
NATURE OF SALVATION. 

" For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach , because we trust in the 
living God, who is the Saviour of all men, especially those that believe." 

1 Tim. iv. 10, 

It is a lamentable truth, that in all ages and coun- 
tries, those who have embraced opinions differing from 
the popular doctrines of the day, have suffered reproach 
in consequence of their faith. Man has forgotten the 
great truth that his fellow-man has the same right to think 
as himself, and that every one is accountable for himself, 
and to God alone. For this reason he has persecuted 
his fellow for his opinions' sake, and pointed to the man 
whose faith did not exactly square with the populai 
standard, as a proper object of reproach, and a mark at 
which bigotry might hurl her arrows of wrath with 
impunity. 

Look for a moment at the life and ministry of Christ, 
for an illustration of this remark. He taught a system 
of faith and practice somewhat different from the pre- 
vailing notions of the day. For this reason he suffered 
reproach from the people to whom he came with his 
message of grace and truth. They even followed him 
with the bloody sword of the persecutor, and paused not 
until they heard his dying groan from an ignominious 
cross. 

So it was with his disciples. They had learned their 



150 



NATTJKE OF SALVATICJf. 



doctrines from Christ, and were preachers of that Gos- 
pel, which carried the joys of salvation, not merely to 
the Jews, but also to the Gentiles. The consequence 
was, that the wrath of the people waxed exceedingly 
hot against them, and the storm which had gathered 
around their Master, broke with violence upon their 
heads. Hence their lives were made, from the begin- 
ning to the end, one continued scene of reproach and 
suffering. 

The text informs us, in a very explicit manner, what 
was the obnoxious feature in their faith, which caused 
all their sufferings. What think you, my hearers, it 
was that excited the opposition and persecution of the 
world? Was it their faith in an angry and cruel God, 
a merciless devil, or an endless hell ? Did they curse 
the people with endless wo, and while they saved a few 
damn the great mass of community? Nay, nothing 
like it. But they " trusted in the living God who was 
the Saviour of all men, especially of those that believ- 
ad," and for this cause they were met with all the powers 
of reproach and persecution. To the narrow minds, 
and selfish feelings of the people of that age, no senti- 
ment was more obnoxious than this. 

The Jews, as a people, had long considered them- 
selves as the peculiar people of God, and the only ob- 
jects of heaven's favorable regard. They were the 
children of Abraham, and Abraham was the father of 
the faithful, and they expected, in consequence of that 
relationship, to be the favorites of heaven ; nor did they 
imagine that the Gentiles could at all be included in the 
covenant of eternal mercy. So thought the most liberal 
among them ; but the greater part of them could not 
extend the mercies of God so far as to reach the case of 
all the Jews. The Pharisee and the Sadducee, could 



NATURE OF SALVATION. 



157 



each claim for himself and his sect, a monopoly of the 
divine mercy, and deny it to the other. 

With such views and feelings, it is no matter of sur- 
prise, that they should rise up in opposition to a system 
which laid the axe at the root of all iheir selfish hopes, 
and taught them to trust in God alone, whose goodness 
was as rich and free for the Gentile as the Jew, and to 
whom the distinctions of nations, tribes, and sects, were 
all alike. It was not to be expected that those who had 
considered themselves better than others, and who had 
trusted themselves that they were righteous, should 
come down upon a level with others, and willingly 
trust in a God who would save their enemies as well as 
themselves. 

If Paul and his coadjutors had flattered the vanity of 
the Jews, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and told them 
that they should all be saved, and all the rest of the world 
should be damned, they would have been well pleased 
with such a sentiment, and we should never have heard 
of the labors and sufferings of the apostles in the pro- 
mulgation of such a faith. But when they told the 
people that God was the Father of all, and informed the 
proud and self-righteous Pharisees, that so far from 
their being favorites of God, and exclusive heirs of the 
kingdom, u even publicans and harlots should enter into 
the kingdom of heaven before them," then it was that 
their pride was hurt, and they rose up to reproach and 
condemn. 

I cannot omit the remark here, that the same spirit 
which reproached the apostles, still lives, and lifts the 
few above the many, and hurls the thunders of deepest 
damnation at those who venture to extend salvation be- 
yond the landmark set up by the popular faith of the 
day. The great mass of professors of Christianity, ■ 



158 



NATURE OF SALVATION. 



however, have avoided the reproach of trusting in the 
living G-od who is the Saviour of all men, by ceasing to 
trust in such a God. Where, among all the numerous 
sects of Christians, will you find the one that trusts in 
God, who is the Saviour of all men ? Is it the Calvin- 
ist ? Who ever heard of a man being reproached for 
believing in the salvation of all, who adhered to the 
creed which saith : u G-od out of his own mere good 
pleasure, elected some to be redeemed and everlastingly 
saved, and the remainder he was pleased to pass by, 
and ordain to dishonor and wrath, to the praise of his 
vindictive justice ?" Does the Methodist labor and suf- 
fer reproach for this cause ? I have indeed heard the en- 
emies of that sect, charge them with holding to senti- 
ments which would lead to the salvation of all ; but I 
have just as often heard the charge repelled as a gross 
slander, accompanied with a prompt denial that they 
believe any such thing. Again then, I ask, who are 
they who now both labor and suffer reproach, because 
they trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all 
men ? I leave you to answer the question, and I know 
that you can, if you will, answer it correctly. 

I may remark, in passing, that God is the Saviour of 
no more than he saves or will save. If ten men are in 
danger of upsetting in a boat, and I go out to save 
them, you could not call me the saviour of ten, unless I 
saved them. If you saw me launch out for their relief, 
and knew perfectly well that I would save them, you 
could with propriety call me the saviour of the ten, even 
before the work was actually done ; but if it should turn 
out, in the end, that I should save but five, then it would 
prove, that you was mistaken in saying that I was the 
saviour of the ten. So here, God is not the Saviour of a 
«oul more than he actually saves. True, that work ia 



NATURE OF SALVATION. 



159 



not yet accomplished. But the apostle knew that he 
had engaged in the work, and that he could not fail of 
success, and therefore he called him the Saviour of all 
men. But should it turn out, in the end, that God 
should save but a part, then would it be proved that the 
apostle was wrong, when he called him the " Saviour 
of all men." 

I know it is said, that God offers salvation to all ; but 
it should be remembered that an offer of salvation is 
one thing, and salvation itself is another. If I offer to 
save a man who is drowning, that does not save him, 
neither does it make me his saviour from death. God 
may offer salvation to man, but that does not save him, 
neither does it make God his Saviour. He is the Saviour 
only of as many as he saves. Should any man dispute 
this, I ask him to go forward to the future world, and 
as he looks down into that dismal hell, in which he be- 
lieves, and beholds the multitude of its hopeless inhabi- 
tants, let him tell me, if he will, in what sense God is 
their Saviour ? It matters not what may have been 
offered them, what have they received? is the question 
on wmch your answer must depend. I care not what 
means may have been put in operation for their salva- 
tion. If these means were not effectual, and they are 
not saved, then God is not their Saviour, and the apostle 
labored and suffered reproach for a trust, that was vain 
and futile in the extreme. 

It is not my purpose, however, in this discourse, to 
argue at great length the question of the extent of salva- 
tion, but rather I propose to explain its nature. 

The term salvation is used generally in a very vague 
and indefinite sense, and much of the controversy about 
the extent and conditions of salvation, arises from a 
want of precision in the idea attached to this word. Tho 



160 



NATURE OF SALVATION. 



scriptures use it in various senses, according to the cil* 
cumstances and situation of the person, or persons, who 
are said to be saved. When Peter, sinking in the deep, 
cried, " Lord save me," we understand that he wished 
to be saved from drowning. When Paul said, " Except 
these abide in the ship ye cannot be saved" we suppose 
he alluded to their salvation from death, which then 
stared them in the face. Many other instances might 
be noted of a similar character, but these are sufficient 
to show, that there is need of much caution in regard to 
the use of this word, and that we shall greatly err if 
we apply this word always to a future and eternal sal- 
vation. 

There has been a great question in the world, whether 
gospel salvation is conditional or unconditional, limited 
or universal ; and it will appear in the course of this 
discussion, that all this controversy originates in a want 
of attention to the meaning of this word, and that, in 
a sense, both parties have been right, and both wrong. 
There are two kinds of salvation mentioned in the text, 
and it will appear on examination, that one is limited 
and conditional, and the other universal and uncon- 
ditional. So that what may be affirmed of the one, 
cannot be affirmed of the other. To illustrate these two 
kinds of salvation is the work now before us. I notice 

I. The special salvation of the believer. God is the 
Saviour of all men, especially of those that believe. 

It is often remarked by those who oppose the doc- 
trine of universal salvation, that if God is the Saviour of 
all men, then there is no difference between ihe saint 
and the sinner, the believer and unbeliever. Those who 
make this remark, seem to forget, that while God is de- 
clared to be the Saviour of all men, he is also said to be 
espicially the Saviour of the believer. Though it if 



NATURE OF SALVATION. 



161 



7 true, that God is the Saviour of all, yet a little more 
attention would teach you, that all along, in Scripture, 
there is a salvation held forth as the special property of 
the believer, in which the unbeliever can have no part 
or lot ; and though all shall be saved wiih an everlasting 
salvation, yet the believer alone can enjoy this special 
salvation. 

1. The believer is saved from sin, " the direst foe of 
man." 

The prophet spoke truly when he said, " Know there- 
fore and understand that it is an evil and bitter thing, 
that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God." No man is 
more to be pitied than the bold transgressor of the laws 
of God. " There is no peace, saith my God, to the 
wicked." The path in which he walks is beset with 
ills on every side, and if perchance he finds a flowery 
spot, it is but the green sod beneath which slumbers the 
earthquake and the storm; and if there are roses around 
him, he may pluck them, indeed, but his limbs will be 
torn and bleeding, with the thorns that hedge them round. 
Such is sin, and to be saved from its power, is a boon more 
desirable than all the riches of earth, or the honors of a 
fading world. This salvation is wrought upon the be- 
liever by faith. His name was " called Jesus, because he 
should save his people from their sins." The doctrines 
taught, and the examples presented in the gospel, are 
such, that faith works by love, and purifies the heart, and 
makes man holy as God is holy. "I say unto you, love 
your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them 
that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you 
and persecute you," is the constant teaching of the doc- 
trine, the precept, and the example of Christ. Hence it 
is evident, that the man who receives into his heart this 
fa'.ih, copies the examples, practices the precepts, and 



£62 



NATURE OF SAL VAT J ON. 



cherishes ,he spirit of Jesus, is saved from sin and atl its 
woes. Tnis is the special salvation of the believer. 
And to this salvation, all that numerous class of pas- 
sages refer, which speak of being washed and purified 
by the faith of Christ. By this salvation, Christ came 
" to purify to himself a peculiar people zealous of good 
works." Salvation from sin, is the first item in the 
special salvation of the believer, and this is a conditional 
salvation, depending upon the condition of faith and re- 
pentance ; and so far as this world is concerned, it is not 
universal, but limited in extent. 

2. The believer is saved from ignorance of God and 
his character. 

Men by nature know not God, and though to the 
mind that has been enlightened with the knowledge of 
Christ Jesus our Lord, " the invisible things of him from 
the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being under- 
stood by the things that are made," yet it was never in 
the power of the unaided wisdom of this world, to ob- 
tain that true knowledge of God which is life eternal. 
Man, without a revelation, could see in the works of na- 
ture around him evidences of a power more energetic 
than the arm of mortals; but whether that power ex- 
isted in the person of a faithful friend, or an implacable 
enemy, was a question that he could not solve. True, 
the sun shone, as now, upon the evil and the good, and 
the rain descended upon the just and the unjust, as evi- 
dence of the divine benignity ; and when man looked at 
these tokens of goodness, he hoped that God was good. 
But when the thunder uttered its voice in the mountains, 
or the earthquake rocked the plains, and the tempest 
howled in fury around, and seemed ready to mingle, 
"heaven, earth, and sea," then fear took the place of 
hope, and dread forebodings came over the soul, and 



destroys 



NATURE OF SALVATION. 163 



destroyed its peace. Then it was, that " fear made her 
devils, and weak hope her gods," and the elements be- 
came invested with all the terrors that imagination 
could invent. Then, false gods were created in every 
grove, and mountain ; and altars were reared in every 
hill and dale, and besidr every stream that flowed. 
Then, the fires of Tophet were kindled, and the altars 
of Baal ran down with the gore of babes and sucklings, 
which were slain to placate the wrath, or secure the 
favor of some idol divinity, whose supposed existence 
was a bitter curse, diffusing misery, deep and dreadful 
misery through all the life of the worshipper. 

Such was, and such is the effect of ignorance of God, 
and from all this the believer in Christ is saved. It was 
Jesus of Nazareth, who tore away the veil which had so 
long obscured the face of the " excellent glory," and re- 
vealed the " king m his beauty," as the kind friend, and 
the everlasting Father of the human race. By faith, the 
believer looks upward to God as the holiest and best of 
all; and though storms and tempests may be around 
about him, he knoweth that there is one, that rideth 
upon the storm, and orders all things well. In him, he 
sees his Father, and he believes that he will never leave 
nor forsake him; but that his strong arm, which is 
never shortened that it cannot save, will be made bare 
in his defence, to deliver, to bless, and to save. Believ- 
ing thus, the soul enters into rest, and the mind is filled 
with joy unspeakable and full of glory. This is that 
special salvation, in another of its items, which it is the 
privilege of the believer in Christ alone to enjoy. 

3. The believer is saved from the bondage of the 
fear of death. 

Without the gospel man knows nothing of the future. 
Before 1 he advent of Christ, darkness shrouded in im- 



164 



NATURE OF SALVATION. 



penetrable gloom all beyond the grave Death was 
abroad in the earth, in " gorgon terrors clad," and before 
him all that was fair, and beautiful, and strong, in hu- 
manity, withered and died as the flower that is cut 
down and fadeth before the heat of the sun, and behind 
him were the bones of nations that had died, and " be- 
hold the sinews were wasted, and the bones were ex- 
ceedingly dry." "If a man die shall he live again?" was 
a question which no man could answer. Or if it was 
answered at all by man, the very ansiver became a more 
fruitful source of misery, than even the doubt and uncer- 
tainty of the question itself. Some of the heathen 
philosophers invented and endeavored to support the 
doctrine of the soul's immortality, but they soon coupled 
it with doctrines of future wo, which made it worse by 
far than the gloom of annihilation. They indeed taught 
an immortal existence, but to the greater part of the 
human family it was an existence of torment unutterable, 
to be dreaded as a curse, rather than sought as a rich 
and valuable blessing. 

Christ came to open up a pathway through the dark 
valley of the shadow of death, and to point the eye of 
faith to that better and happier land, " where the wicked 
cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest." He 
brought life and immortality to light, and demonstrated 
by his own resurrection from the dead, that man shall 
rise triumphant from the spoiler's power, and bloom with 
unfading youth in the paradise of his God. 

Here the poor Pagan learns to cast his idols and his 
temples to the moles and the bats, and to rejoice in that 
truth which giveth life to the world. By faith in this, 
the poor mortal that trembles in view of the dark gulf, 
where the ashes of a universe are scattered by the winds 
of time, and who weeps over the valley of dry bones ; 



NATURE OF SALVATION. 



165 



is saved from all his fears, for he sees the spirit of the 
Lord moving upon the valley, and believes that even the 
dry bones shall live. By faith in this, the trembling 
mortal who faintly hopes for a heaven of joy, but more 
dreadfully fears a burning hell of endless wo, for him- 
self or his children, is saved from his doubts and fears, 
and taught to look forward to the time when death and 
hell shall be destroyed, and all created humanity shall 
be redeemed from sorrow, and ransomed from the grave, 
and shall dwell in the fulness of eternal and unsullied 
joy. This is the special salvation of the believer in 
another of its items. 

And here I leave this part of my subject, with the 
simple remark, that the salvation of which I have been 
speaking, is spoken of in the scripture all along as con- 
ditional. This is the salvation which is spoken of as 
dependent upon faith and repentance. This is the sal- 
vation which man is exhorted to " work out," with 
which he that believeth shall be saved, and which he 
that believeth not cannot enjoy. It is confined alone to 
the believer, and is set forth as a thing for which man 
should labour perseveringly, as for a treasure more val- 
uable than aught that the world can afford. The great 
cause of error in the world is, that professors of Chris- 
tianity do not bear in mind this special salvation ; but 
they apply the term salvation almost exclusively to a 
future world, and therefore contend that that is con- 
ditional which depends alone upon the will, purpose and 
power of God. Whereas the only salvation that de- 
pends at all upon human agency, is, that special salva- 
tion which is wrought in the believer here on earth. 

II. I come to speak of that salvation which is for all 
men. 

And here I beg to remind you, that it is no more cer- 



166 



NATURE OF SALVATION. 



tain that God is especially the Saviour of the believer, 
than that he is positively the Saviour of all men. Paul 
trusted in the living God, who was the Saviour of all 
men, and the fact that he is especially the Saviour of 
the believer, does not abate one fraction from the truth, 
that he is the Saviour of all. I notice this particularly 
because the enemies of Universalism are frequently 
heard insisting upon the last clause of the text, as if it 
had some magic power to limit or contradict the first 
clause. AVhen we say that God is the Saviour of all 
men, the reply almost uniformly is, yes, but you should 
remember that the text says, that he is especially the 
Saviour of those that believe. Very well, and what 
then? Because the last part of the text says, he is es- 
pecially the Saviour of the believer, are we to conclude 
that ihe first part is false, and that he is not the Saviour 
of all men, but only of believers ? This word especially 
is so much pressed into the service of a partial faith, 
that I must give it a passing notice, and if I borrow an 
illustration it will not be the less useful. The idea is, 
that this word limits the salvation of God to believers 
alone. Now Paul wrote to Timothy saying, " The cloak 
that I left with thee at Troas, bring with thee when 
thou comest, and the books, but especially the parch- 
ment." There is precisely as much reason in saying, 
that Paul did not want the cloak and the books, because 
he said, " especially the parchment," as there is in say- 
ing, that God is not the Saviour of any but believers, 
because the text says especially of them that believe; 
and if I tell y«>u, that Paul wanted bo:h the cloak and 
the books, you ought to object at once, and remind me 
that he said he especially wanted the parchment. I 
kn.,w he said so, but what then? Does that prove that 
he wanted nothing else ? By no means. So in the text. 




The fact that God is said to be the Saviour, " especially 
of those that believe," has no effect at all upon the pre- 
vious and positive assertion tha* he is the Saviour of all 
men. 

But the question comes up, in what sense is God the 
Saviour of all men ? Or what are the evils from which 
he saves them ? I answer, from the power of death and 
tne darkness of the grave, through the resurrection from 
the dead. This salvation is for all, the saint and the 
sinner, the believer and the unbeliever. So the Saviour 
said, " Of all the Father hath given me I will lose 
nothing, but will raise it up again at the last day." So 
also the Apostle said, " As in Adam all die, even so in 
Christ shall all be made alive." 

This salvation is unconditional, and is uniformly sc 
represented in the scriptures. HumaL agency cannot 
effect it, nor does it, or can it depend upon any thing 
that man can do, or believe, or upon the strength of man 
in any sense of the word. Go to the tombs, and ask 
the sleeping dead if they can raise themselves from their 
slumbers ? and there will come up a silent voice, saying 
that there man's boasted strength is turned to weakness 
and he can do no more. Go to the living, and ask them 
if they have power to give life to the dead ? and they 
shall tell you that they have no such power. 

Well, then % if man's resurrection from the dead depends 
upon God alone, and no human power can effect it ; so 
must the state and condition of man depend equally upon 
God, and be equally beyond the reach of human agency. 
Suppose tor instance, a man should set himself to work 
and attempi to get himself raised up from the dead 
with four arms instead of two. We should smile at the 
folly of the man, and call him a visionary enthusiast, 
as a man destitute of common sense. But really, is 



168 



NATURE OF SALVATION. 



there any thing absolutely more absurd in the supposi- 
tion, that we can by our works procure a couple of 
bodily organs in the resurrection ; than that these same 
works can procure us those mental qualifications there, 
on which our eternal happiness shall depend ? Is there 
in reality any thing more preposterous in the supposition 
that God has made our corporeal organization in the re- 
surrection, dependent upon our works, than in the idea, 
that he has suspended our mental or moral organization 
upon these works ? I judge not, and the only reason 
why one appears more absurd than the other, may be 
found in the fact, that one is the countenance of an old 
acquaintance, while the other is that of a stranger. 

The truth is, that man can by his faith and works do 
something toward ameliorating his condition here ; but 
he cannot procure his resurrection from the dead ; and 
if he cannot procure the thing itself, much less can he 
procure any modifications of it. All that man is, and 
all that he can be in the resurrection, he must owe to 
God alone; his feeble works cannot reach one line be- 
yond the grave, nor can they make one hair black or 
white in the resurrection from the dead. That resur- 
rection itself is the free gift of God, upon which man 
has no claim whatever, and all its blessings or joys, are 
also as perfectly free on the part of God, and equally 
unmerited on the part of man. " The trumpet shall 
sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and 
we shall be changed." " So when this mortal shall pin 
on immortality, and this corruptible shall put on incor- 
ruption, then shall be brought to pass the saying that 
is written, death is swallowed up in victory. Oh ! death 
where is thy sting? Oh ! grave w T here is thy victory! 
The sting of death is sin; the strength of sin is the law. 
But thanks be (not to us, or our faith or works) but unto 



NATURE OF SALVATION. 



God, who giveth us the victory through our Lard Jesus 
Christ." 

This is the salvation which God has prepared for a 
world, and in this sense God Is the Saviour of all men. 
Death the last enemy shall be destroyed, and man shall 
be saved from his power. And it is a remarkable fact, 
that this salvation is never spoken of as depending 
upon the agency of man, or any thing else but the 
power of God. " He shall change our vile body that it 
may be fashioned like unto Christ's glorious body," and 
this shall be done by " the working of that mighty 
power whereby he is able to subdue all things unto 
himself." 

Brethren, " be ye strong in the Lord, and in the 
power of his might," and " think it not strange concern- 
ing the fiery trials that are to try you ;" for if Paul and 
the early disciples " labored and suffered reproach be- 
cause they trusted in the living God, who was the Sa- 
viour of all men, especially of them that believed," think 
not that ye shall escape the reproach of the world, if ye 
trust in the same God. But in the midst of all re- 
proaches, hold fast the profession of your faith without 
wavering, and the Lord make you perfect in every good 
word and work. 

15 



I ) ; I REPENTANCE. 



SERMON XII. 
REPENTANCE. 
" And they went out, and preached that men should repent." Mark vi. IS. 

There is, perhaps, no subject which is more agitated 
m the religious world than that of repentance. It is 
not always the case, however, that the subject upon 
which most is said, is best understood. " Conversion," 
" regeneration," being " born again," " getting religion," 
" obtaining a hope," " experiencing a change," are 
phrases in common use, and they are, I believe, em- 
ployed as about synonymous with repentance ; and yet^ 
if you were to ask what precise, and definite idea is at- 
tached to any of them, I imagine it would be somewhat 
difficult to obtain a very satisfactory answer. They are 
phrases, used in a vague and indefinite sense, to denote 
something that can be felt, but cannot be explained. 
Certain awful fears of the wrath and curse of God ; 
some horrible feelings of despair, succeeded by a sud- 
den and mysterious burst of light and joy, would em- 
brace the amount of the meaning of these terms as they 
are generally employed. 

That the doctrine of repentance is taught in the Bible, 
no man can doubt for a moment ; and that the early 
disciples made it a somewhat prominent theme of their 
ministry, is evident from the text; for when they were 
sent out on their mission of love and mercy, the histori- 
an says, " they went out, and preached that men should 



REPENTANCE. 



173 



repent." Such being the importance of the subject, 
and such the general confusion of ideas in relation to it, 
I shall make it the business of this discourse to explain 
the nature and utility of repentance. 

In relation to the first of these particulars, the nature 
of repentance, it may be observed that it is not, as some 
suppose, a mere sorrow for sin. The thief who is de- 
tected, and is on his way to the penitentiary, may be, 
and doubtless often is, very sorry that he committed the 
crime; but that is not repentance. The murderer, on 
the scaffold, is doubtless very sorry that he murdered ; 
but that feeling of sorrow is very far from true repent- 
ance. So a man may become alarmed at his condition 
as a sinner. He may be told, and may believe, that he 
is exposed to the curse of God, and that he is every mo- 
ment in danger of the deep damnation of hell ; and from 
these considerations he may be very sorry that he has 
sinned ; but such sorrow as this has little to do with 
true evangelical repentance. There is another, and a 
different kind of sorrow, which is far more useful. In 
these cases the sorrow is selfish, and proceeds from a 
view of the real or supposed personal evils consequent 
upon crime, rather than from a conviction of the ingrat- 
itude and wrong of the crime itself. In such a casfe, 
the thief or the murderer is more sorry that he has be^n 
detected, than that he has stolen or murdered, and ttie 
sinner regrets more that he must go to hell than tha t he 
has sinned against heaven. 

But there is a soi/ow which is concerned in repent- 
ance, which ought to be exercised by us all. It pro- 
ceeds from a sense of guilt itself, rather than from any 
view of punishment. It results from a discovery of the 
great and abundant goodness of God, the excellency of 
his law, and the strong and immutable obligations we 



172 



.REPENTANCE. 



aie under to ove, serve and obey God. The man who 
exercises this sorrow, mourns for his sin, on account oi 
its own guilt and the wickedness of the thing itself. 
He sees thai it is wrong, and though God has not 
threatened to punish him at all for it, he would not 
grieve the less on that account. This is called in the 
scriptures " Godly sorrow." But even this is not re- 
pentance. The apostle says, " Godly sorrow ivorketh 
repentance," and of course even Godly sorrow cannot 
be, of itself, that repentance which it worketh. It is 
but one of the means which are useful in bringing about 
repentance; but it is not repentance itself. 

Repentance, as taught in the Bible, is no more nor less 
than an actual turning from the love and practice of sin 
to the love and practice of virtue. I have no faith at 
all in a repentance which leaves a man as bad as it 
found him, or which affects him only on the sabbath or 
in the church. If a man has been unjust, and he learns 
to hate injustice, and turns from its practice to follow 
justice, in his intercourse with his fellow-men ; that man 
has repented. If a man has been a drunkard, and turns 
from his drunkenness to the love and practice of tem- 
perance, that man has repented. And so of any and 
all the vices that degrade humanity. To repent is to 
turn from them, and commence and continue the prac- 
tice of righteousness. It is to " break off our sins by 
righteousness, and our iniquities by turning to the 
Lord." This is the Bible doctrine of repentance, and 
nothing short of this is worthy the name. 

I regret to say that repentance, in the eyes of the 
world, at this day, has little or no connexion with the 
practice of man, in the every day business of life. It is 
a matter for the sabbath and for the church, rather than 
for the store, the workshop, the counting-house, or the 



REPENTANCE. 173 

market-place. ^ shall be best understood by taking a 
single case, as an illustration. Here is a man who is 
ft merchant, and though he is not an outrageous sinner, 
yet he loves money like most men, and is not over and 
above scrupulous about the means of obtaining it. He 
will recommend an article, which he wishes to sell, 
considerably above what truth will justify, and if he 
can make a good bargain by using a little deception, he 
does not hesitate to do so. He will overreach an igno- 
rant customer, and take from him more than justice 
would give. He sometimes grinds the face of the poor, 
with whom he deals, and is not particular in regard to 
the wants or rights of others. I have known this man 
for some time, and finally in a time of excitement a mu- 
tual friend comes to me with much apparent satisfac- 
tion, and informs me that this man has repented. My 
reply is, I am glad of it, for he certainly needed repent- 
ance, as much as some others of my acquaintance. 
But really, sir, I have not seen the evidence of his re- 
pentance. I have been in his store frequently and have 
been acquainted with his practice, and truly I do not 
see but he continues to do about the same that he has 
done heretofore. He appears as anxious to make a 
good bargain as ever, and all his operations are carried 
on upon the same principles as formerly. True, I have 
noticed that his countenance has appeared a little elon- 
gated of late, and I thought perhaps he might have 
met with some loss that troubled him a little. I have 
also noticed, that he passed by me rather coolly ; and 
in one or two instances, when a very large story was to 
be told, T have known him step aside and let a clerk tell 
it for him. But except a little more gloom of counte- 
nance, and some reserve of manner, I have seen no par- 
ticular change in the man. Is it not possible that you 
15* 



174 



REPENTANCE. 



arc mistaken about the fact of his having repented 1 
Oh, no, He certainly has repented, for I was present 
when he " got religion." He went to our church, and 
during a powerful sermon he was struck " under con- 
viction," came forward for the prayers of God's pecple, 
and in due time was converted, and he is now amembei 
of the church. Very well, I grant all that, the man 
might have been alarmed, and no doubt he felt much 
better when the alarm had subsided; but the church is 
the last place in the world any man should go, to ascer- 
tain who has, and who has not repented. I should be 
pleased to know what improvement you have seen in 
the man's subsequent conduct which leads you to the 
belief that he has repented ? Why, he has been a 
regular attendant upon the Gospel ordinances every sab- 
bath. He has prayed in his family every day, and is 
active in seeking the salvation of the souls of sinners 
around him. All this he has done, and there can be no 
doubt that he has repented. 

All this may be very conclusive to some minds, but I 
must have another and a different kind of evidence be- 
fore I can say that all my doubts are removed. The 
man may be very punctual at church, and very devout, 
so far as appearances are concerned, while there ; and 
at the same time, be a very bad man when out of 
church. He may pray to be seen of men, and his very 
prayers be designed as a cloak for iniquity. He may 
manifest a great anxiety to save the souls of sinners, 
but I want to see him treat their bodies a little bettei 
before I can allow that the genuineness of his repent* 
ance is placed beyond ail question. Has he ever said ; 
as one of old, " Lo ! the half of my goods I give to the 
poor, and if J have taken any thing unlawfully from any 
man, I resto/e him fourfold." Where is the evidence 



REPENTANCE. 



175 



that lie either loves justice better, or practises it more 
than formerly ? Where is the evidence that he is a bet- 
ter husband and father ; a more kind friend or a better 
citizen, or even a more honest man ? Where is the man 
who will say of him " behold this man has returned to 
me the gold which he unjustly took from my purse ?" 
Where are the poor, the widows and the fatherless, that 
have been benefited by his repentance, and can say 
now what they never said of him before, " behold our 
friend and benefactor, who fed us when we were hungry, 
and clothed us when we were naked ?" Nay, where 
are the men of business who will point to his store, and 
say, " there lives the man who in former times would 
cheat us in a trade, but he has repented and is now an 
honest man. Let us turn in hither and buy, for he will 
not deceive us; his words are faithful and true, and no 
guile is found upon his tongue.' 9 

These are the evidences of repentance, and any thing 
short of this is but a spurious cheat, as far from the true 
evangelical repentance of the Bible as the east is from 
the west. I want a repentance which makes a man 
honest in his dealings, faithful and true to his word, kind 
and charitable to the poor, forgiving toward his enemies 
and benevolent in his feelings and acts to all. Any thing 
that falls short of these effects i must reject as unworthy 
the name of repentance. 

I may remark further, that repentance to be genuine 
and lasting must proceed from proper motives. Of these 
motives however, man eannot judge infallibly, for we 
can see only the outward act, but cannot penetrate the 
heart. A man may refrain from stealing because he is 
afraid of the penitentiary, and still be a thief at heart, 
and scarcely less guilty than if he had actually laid his 
taand unlawfully upcn his neighbour's goods. So a man 



176 



REPENTANCE, 



may correct some of the irregularities of his life because 
he is afraid of hell or the Devil, and still remain as much 
in love with sin as ever, but this is not genuine repent- 
ance. 

The Apostle preached " repentance toward God," not 
towards hell, or the prince of Darkness; and I confess 
I have little confidence in a repentance which proceeds 
from fear of punishment of any kind. The repentance 
of the Gospel has God for its object, and the true peni- 
tent thinks little or nothing of the punishment that is 
due him for his sins. His eye is fixed on God and he 
sees in him so much of purity and goodness that he ab- 
hors himself, and repents in dust and ashes. He feels 
that he has sinned against a Fathers love, which has 
followed him all his life long, and he loathes sin for its 
own sake, and turns from it with disgust to run with 
cheerful alacrity in the path of duty. 

These are in brief, my views of repentance. Rela- 
tive to the long agitated question, whether repentance is 
the work of God's irresistible power, or of the agency 
of man, or of both conjoined, I have but little to say. 
It may suffice to remark, that repentance is as much the 
work of the creature, as any other act of a man's life. 
Man repents as he does every other act, under the influ- 
ence of motives. Take away all motives from man and 
he will neither repent nor do any thing else. 

Suppose, for the sake of an illustration, a man sees a 
quantity of gold in such a situation that he can steal it 
and appropriate it to his own use. He is the creature 
of infirmity, the temptation is strong, and he finally 
takes that which is not his own. Now in that act there 
is evidently no need of a special and immediate inter- 
position of the irresistible power of God. On the con- 
trary the motives presented are fully sufficient to account 



REPENTANCE. 



177 



for the act. After he has obtained the gold he begins 
to reflect seriously upon his ways. He sees that he has 
violated one of those sacred principles on which the 
happiness and even the existence of civil society depend. 
He feels that he has perhaps beggared a friend, disgraced 
himself and family, and above all that he has sinned 
against God, and laid the foundation for years of remorse 
and misery. All these things operate as motives and 
press it heavily upon him, to return his ill gotten gain, 
and forsake his sin. He finally resolves to return the 
gold to its owner, and carries that resolution into effect, 
and henceforward he walks in the way of honesty and 
justice. That was repentance, and it was as much the 
act of that man's agency as any other act of his life. 
There was no more need of the special and irresistible 
power of God to induce that man to return the money, 
than there was to make him steal it in the first instance. 
In both cases he acted as man always acts under the in- 
fluence of motives, and these motives are in my judge- 
ment fully sufficient to account for the whole matter, 
without the necessity of bringing in a special interposi- 
tion of the power of God. 

I do not deny the agency of God in the work of re- 
pentance nor in any thing else, for it is " in him we live 
and move and have our being." I joyfully recognise the 
evidence of his presence and power in every breath that 
moves our heaving lungs ; and I know that without him 
we can do nothing. But the idea I wish to impress upon 
your minds is, that God in the economy of his grace, as 
in every thing else, works by means. His gospel is the 
instrument of working repentance, and when its vast 
power is applied, it is able to do the work, and hence 
there is no more need of a special interposition of his 
power to produce repentance, than ill bringing about any 



78 



REPEN TANCE. 



other of the plans of his gracious providence, the means 
of which he has already appointed. 

These being my views of that matter, I lay them be- 
fore you in all frankness, because I would, if I could, per- 
suade men to repent, and strip them of that excuse w nich 
is so often heard, that they cannot repent, for repentance 
must be wrought by the power of God, and they must 
wait for him to work. I tell you that you have the same 
ability to repent that you have to do any thing else, and 
it is high time that every one of us should set about 
that work in sober earnest, with a full determination 
that depending upon God, as we should in all cases, we 
will subdue every unhallowed passion, forsake every 
known sin, and practice every known virtue. 

I have already said that repentance consists not in 
feelings alone, but in an actual turning from the practice 
of sin to the practice of virtue. It may be proper to 
show that this is a scriptural view of the subject. You 
will doubtless recollect that our blessed Saviour intro- 
duced the case of two servants as illustrations of the 
dutv of repentance. They were both commanded to 
do a certain service. One said, I go, and went not. But 
the other said, I go not, and afterward he repented and 
went. He did not repent of what he had said and still 
refused to obey, but he repented and went and performed 
the work, and he was justified, while the other was con- 
demned. Now this approval is good evidence that Jesus 
considered that repentance, and that only as genuine, 
which consisted in doing the works that God commanded. 

But I need not dwell at greater length on this part 
of the subject, for I pres ime I am already under- 
stood. I say yet, once more, good works, of an un- 
doubted and undying character ; works of justice, kind- 
ness, benevolence, charitv, and truth, are the onlv 



KEPENTANCfc. 



17» 



evidence of genuine repentance ; and to these must the 
appeal be made, if we would determine with any toler- 
able degree of certainty, whether a man has, or has not 
repented. 

It may be said, as it has often been said, that men 
may be good moral men, from interested motives ; irom 
a love of popularity, or a good name. My answer is, 
that the thing is possible, but that is not my business. 1 
cannot judge men's 'motives in all cases. The Saviour 
says, " ye shall know them by their fruits." " Grapes 
do not grow on thorns, nor figs on thistles." Hence, 
when I find the good fruit, I am bound to admit that the 
tree is good also. 

I come now to speak of the utility of repentance. 

What benefits will result to us from an exercise of 
true repentance ? Will repentance save us from endless 
wo in another world ? I answer, no — for the best of all 
possible reasons; that in the economy of God's govern- 
ment and grace, man never stood exposed to any such 
calamity; and it is idle to say that repentance, or any 
thing else, can save us from something of which we 
were never in danger. When it shall have been proved 
that God has placed man in danger of such a fate, it 
will be time enough to talk of being saved from it by 
repentance. As that has not yet been proved, we will 
not enter further upon a discussion of that matter. 

"Will repentance secure for us the joys of a blessed im- 
mortality in heaven ? I answer, no — for that was secured 
by the immutable promise of him that cannot lie, from 
the foundation of the world, and is the free gift of God, 
bestowed upon man, not as the reward of works, but as 
the free bounty of a benevolent and good Creator. Does 
any man hope for a state, of endless bliss on account of 
his repentance or works ? If so, he may for ever rest 



180 



REPENTANCE 



assured that his is any thing else hut the he of a 
Christian. God has laid in Zion a corner stone, tried 
and precious, and upon that our hopes must be reared, 
or they will fail in the day of trial. That stone is Christ, 
who rose triumphant over the power of death, and 
brought life and immortality to light ; thus giving us 
hope that as he lives, so shall we live also. " Other 
foundation can no man lay than that which is laid," and 
he that rejects this foundation to build upon his own 
works, will find to his cost, that he is building a totter- 
ing Babel that cannot abide the wind or the storm. 

But the objector is ever ready to ask, if your doctrine 
is true, and we are all to be saved at last, what is the 
use of repentance ? I answer plainly to the point. Re- 
pentance will give to man, in all cases, 

u The soul's calm sunshine, and the heartfelt joy." 

It will make a man calm, contented, and happy in life, 
resigned and joyful in sickness, and triumphant in death. 
It will save a man here, from those dreadful miseries 
that are always mingled in the cup of wickedness. 
" There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked, but 
they are as the troubled ocean, whose waters cast up 
mire and dirt continually. " He that repents of all sin, 
and walks with obedient footsteps in the way of righte- 
ousness, is saved from these sorrows, and receives as the 
rich reward of his labor that perfect peace which is the 
inheritance of those, and those only, who keep the law 
of God. Say what you will of the pleasures of the 
wicked, with the Bible and the experience of the world 
before me, I boldly declare, that there is no happy man 
on earth, but the good man. He lives at peace with 
himself, and the world. He enjoys communion with 
God, and the spirits of the just. His ways are ways of 



REPENTANCE. 



pleasantness, and all his paths are peace. He fears not 
the pestilence that walketh in darkness, and wasteth at 
noonday, for God is with him. He is humble in pros- 
perity, peaceful and calm in adversity. The blessing of 
him that was ready to perish comes upon him while 
living, and at last, in a good old age, like a shock of corn 
fully ripe, he is gathered to his fathers ; and as he stands 
upon the brink of the grave, he looks back upon a life 
well spent, without a sigh, or a tear, and peacefully 
goes down to the tomb, with the blessings and the 
benedictions of children and the community upon his 
memory. 

Is there no good in all this ? Is there nothing im 
virtue itself that is desirable, that man should love it for 
its own sake ? Or is man so far gone, that he must be? 
considered incapable of appreciating that which is lovely 
and good, and to be brought to virtue by the mercenary 
hope of an extra reward in another world; or driven to 
its practice by the slavish fear of hell and the devil?. 
Must the fear of that "hangman's whip," be constantly, 
before our eyes, to keep us in awe, that we curse not 
God to his face ? 

Lay another world altogether out of the question, and 
see if you canot discover any motive to repentance. Go 
to the drunkard, and mark the wreck of happiness over 
which he mourns. Behold him reeling from his mid- 
night carousals to his wretched abode. Mark him when 
the effervescence of the glass is gone, and in moments 
of calm reflection, he sits him down to contemplate his 
ways. He sees the tears of a family falling around* 
him, and feels that he is the guilty cause of their woes;, 
and as for himself, he is comfortless and poor, and must 
soon go down to that grave, at which the hand of affec- 
tion will rear no stone to tell of its inmate. He knows ^ 
16 



182 



REPENTANCE, 



that he is whirling with fearful haste, down to the abodes 
of death, and that for his wife and children naught but 
poverty remains. Is there no motive for him to repent? 
Would it do no good for him to dash the cup from his 
lips, and live " soberly, righteously, and godly in this 
world ?" Ah ! yes. It would change that abode of 
wretchedness to a blooming paradise of joy. It would 
dry up those falling tears, and give to the penitent him- 
self, firmness of body, and peace of mind, that he can 
never enjoy while engaged in the practice of sin. 

The same, or similar remarks will apply to every 
species and form of sin ; for though the effects of this 
are more outward and visible than in some other cases, 
they are not more bitter, certain, or sure. Disguise it 
as you will, all sin is misery. There is sorrow :m every 
cup that vice presents to her votaries. She may mingle 
it as she will, to make it sweet to the taste; death and 
misery are there, and when drank, it will be worm- 
wood, gall and bitterness in the system. God has bound 
sin and misery together by a tie that no man can put 
asunder, and he that practises the one must feel the 
other. 

There is still another idea, that should not be passed 
over. The joys of hope in the Gospel are sweet, and 
these can only be truly enjoyed by the man who repents 
of sin with full purpose of heart. Men may speculate 
and theorize as they will; but the truth is, there is such 
a damning power in sin, that it will always prevent the 
enjoyment of faith, however correctly it may be held in 
theory. Suspicion and doubt are always the companions 
of guilt. " The wicked flee when no man pursueth, but 
the righteous are as bold as a lion." Fearful forebodings 
of the future, and dark and dreadful recollections of the 
past, will crowd upon the mind of the guilty, and though 



REPENTANCE. 



183 



ne may lock his crimes in the secrecy of his own heart, 
yet in the darkness of the silent night, they will haunt 
him as ghosts of despair, and plant thorns in the pillow 
upon which he vainly strives to rest his weary head. 
The light of truth may shine around him, but it has no 
charms for him. He cannot live at ease — he cannot die 
in peace, for there is a canker-worm gnawing at the 
very root of the tree of happiness. "Repent, then, and 
be Converted every one of you, that your sins may be 
blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come 
from the presence of the Lord," and through all coming 



fife, 



u Know then this truth, enough for man to know, 
That virtue alone is happiness below.'' 




184 



FAITH, 



SERMON XIII. 
FAITH. 

" For what if some did not believe ? Shall their unbelief make tbs faith of 
God without effect J" Romans iii. 3 

The scriptures of the New Testament everywhere 
insist upon the necessity of faith in the Lord Jesus 
Christ. So frequently is faith urged upon the reader, 
that even the tyro in Christian knowledge would readi- 
ly inform you that it is absolutely necessary to believe. 
But the precise nature and utility of faith, and the con- 
sequences of unbelief, are subjects not so generally nor 
so well understood. To explain and illustrate, these 
points shall be the business of this discourse, and with- 
out further introductory remarks, I come to that work. 

I. What is the nature of Christian faith ? 

My reply is, that faith is the assent which the mind 
gives to the truth of a proposition, from the force of real 
or supposed evidence, presented to the understanding, 
and it will always be weak or strong, in proportion as 
the evidence appears to be conclusive or otherwise. 
Christian faith is a belief in the mission and teachings 
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and so far as the nature of the 
thing itself is concerned, it differs not from faith in any 
thing else. If I should inform you that I had recently 
seen a friend of yours, you would be likely to believe 
me. That belief is faith, and it will be weak or strong 
in roportion to y our confidence in my veracity. The 



FAITH. 



186 



same in its nature is faith in Christ. Thv, same, in 
fact, is all faith, and the only imaginable difference in 
different cases, is not in the thing itself, bu\ .1 the sub- 
jects upon which it is employed. Christ claims to be 
the Messiah, the Son of God, the divinely appointed 
messenger of his Father's grace and truth, and the Sa- 
viour of the world. He gives you, as proof that he is 
what he professes to be, the fulfilment of the ancient 
promises in him, and appealing to his works — to the 
signs and miracles and wonders that God wrought by 
him, in the midst of the people, and to his triumphant 
resurrection from the dead — he shows that his mission 
is divine, and that with him is the mighty power of 
God. By this evidence the judgement is convinced, and 
from its throne gives out the decision : " Thou art the 
Christ, the Son of the living God." This is faith, and 
it is produced by the same means, and is in its nature 
the same as faith exercised upon any other subject. 
The evidence of these miracles is conclusive ; the rec- 
ord is given us by men who were eye-witnesses, and 
whose characters slander itself dare not assail. With 
such evidence as this, men may believe with an un- 
doubted faith, and there is no more need of a miracle 
or of any supernatural agency to produce faith in Christ, 
than to secure faith in any thing else, which you re- 
ceive on the strength of evidence. 

If your friend informs you that he saw a man perform 
a certain act, you can believe him without any special 
interposition of divine power. So, if you are informed 
on good authority, that about eighteen hundred years ago, 
there appeared in Judea a man called Jesus, who claim- 
ed to be sent of God, and sustained his claims by signs 
and miracles, and by his own resurrection from the 
dead; if the historians inform you that they were with 
16* 



i86 



FAITH. 



him, and saw the lame walk, the blind see, the deal 
hear, and the dead come forth from the grave at his 
word ; that they knew him well, and saw him expire 
upon the cross, and were the eye-witnesses of his resur- 
rection ; you can believe that also ; and there is no 
more need of a special interposition of God's spirit to 
produce faith in one case than the other. The one is 
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the other is faith in 
your friend, and both are produced by the force of evi- 
dence. 

I make these remarks, because it has long been fash- 
ionable to mystify the subject of faith by involving it m 
the mists of metaphysical subtleties, and logical nice- 
ties. Hence we hear of " divine faith," and " human 
faith," " historical faith," and " temporal faith," and I 
know not what else ; and men have labored much in 
drawing out nice hair-splitting distinctions between v 
these various kinds of faith. It is all " vanity and vex- 
ation of spirit," a mere play upon words without profit. 
All faith is one and indivisible in nature, differing only 
in degree, and in the objects upon which it is employed. 

The opinion that Christian faith is entirely different 
from any other kind of faith, and beyond the reach of 
human agency, is pernicious in the extreme. It induces 
men to stand complaining of their want of faith, and 
praying for more, and waiting for some strange and di- 
vine afflatus to come like the shock of a galvanic bat- 
tery, and give them all faith in a moment. This keeps 
men weak and sickly in the Christian life. If a man 
wants more faith, let him work as well as pray. Let 
him candidly and perseveringly gird himself to the work 
of a patient examination of the evidences, on whicn 
the Gospel rests its claims for our credence. He will 
thus find that the Gospel has laid its foundation on the 



FAITH. 



187 



immovable rocks of eternal truth, he will know what 
he believes, and why he believes, and with an enlighten- 
ed mind he will drink in the waters of living faith, fresh 
from the everlasting* spring, and rejoice that the found- 
ation of God standeth sure and steadfast. Does any 
man lack faith, I say again, let him work as well as 
pray; for I am certain that calm and patient investiga- 
tion of the evidences of revealed religion, is the best an- 
tidote to skepticism. The spectres of infidelity will flee 
before it as chaff before the wind. 

Let it be borne in mind then, that Christian faith takes 
cognizance of the mission, death, resurrection, and teach- 
ings of Jesus Christ, and is, in its nature, simply the as- 
sent which the mind gives to the truth of these things 
from the force of evidence, and will, in each case, be 
weak or strong, in proportion as the evidence is under- 
stood and appreciated. I pass to inquire, 

II. What is the utility of Christian faith ? 

In answering this question, there are two extremes 
into which men have run. On the one hand it is 
thought that no man can be saved without faith, and 
that the eternal destinies of the world are suspended 
upon the conditions of faith or unbelief. This is one 
extreme. On the other hand, it is thought by some* 
that Christian faith is entirely useless, and men are as 
well off without as with it. This is another extreme, 
and it will appear in the sequel, that the truth lies be- 
tween the two. 

The fallacy of the first of these positions is evident 
from the single consideration that truth is immutable 
and exists independent of the faith or unbelief of man. 
If faith is what I have said it is, the assent of the mind 
to the truth of the Gospel, then evidently the Gospel 
nnst exist beforehand, and its ruth or falsity can in no 



188 



FAITH. 



way be affected by faith, which is always ex- post 
facto. 

For instance : — It is either true that Christ came and 
suffered, and labored, and died, and rose from the dead, 
or it is not. If it is not true, then my faith cannot make 
it so. But, if it be true that he thus came, then it 
would be equally true even though the whole world 
should refuse to believe it. 

Again. I suppose it is this day true, that you and I 
will either be saved or lost. If it be true that we are to 
be lost, then, surely, no faith can save us; and if it be 
true that we are to be saved, then it is equally certain, 
that no want of faith in us can make it untrue. Hence then, 
I conclude, that the sentiment which teaches that man 
can make or unmake God's truth at pleasure, and that 
men are to be saved in another world because they are 
fortunate enough to believe it is so, or lost because they 
believe it is not so, is grossly absurd and utterly unphi- 
losophical. 

Look at the subject in another light. Millions on 
millions of the human family have never heard even the 
name of Christ. They bow down before dumb idols 
and worship the works of their own hands. They pay 
their devotions in temples whose inmates never yet 
dreamed that such a being as Jesus of Nazareth, ever 
had an existence. Besides all this, even in Christian 
countries there are many, very many, who go down to 
the grave in infancy, or in the early morning of their ex- 
istence, ere yet their minds are capable of exercising 
faith in Christ, or of understanding his doctrines. All 
these must be lost, if it be true that none bul believers 
can be saved ; for they all die without faith. 

I ask you — Is there consistency or reason, or even hu- 
manity, in a doctrine which teaches that God will curse 



FAITH. 



189 



with endless wo, "the distant islands of the sea," 
merely because they did not believe on him, of whose 
name tuey have never heard, and of whose religion, the 
very circumstances in which God has placed them, com- 
pel them to be as profoundly ignorant as they are of the 
inhabitants of the distant stars? Is it reasonable to 
suppose, that a God of all perfection and goodness, will 
curse alL who die in infancy, merely because he saw 
proper to take them out of the world before they were 
capable of exercising faith in the Gospel ? These are 
necessary and unavoidable conclusions from the position, 
that God has made faith a condition of future salvation, 
and I warn you not to embrace that position, unless you 
are prepared to go the whole length, and damn all who 
do not come up to the condition. 

But let us turn our attention to the Scriptures, aud see 
what light we can gather from them, upon the subject 
in question. "What if some did not believe? Shall 
their unbelief make the faith of God without effect ? 
God forbid ! Yea, let God be true and every man a liar. ,, 
I may remark, here, that the word rendered faith in the 
last clause of the text, is the same that is often translat- 
ed faithfulness, and that it should have been so trans- 
lated in this instance, is evident from the consideration 
that God cannot be said to have faith in the common 
acceptation of the term. To him all things are distinctly 
and infallibly known, and hence nothing can be a matter 
of faith with him. In the new and improved version of 
the testament, the passage reads thus : " What if some 
had not faith ? Shall their want of faith make the faith- 
fulness of God of no effect ? By no means, rather let 
God be true, though every man be a liar." 

The doctrine of the text is, therefore, evidently this: — 
¥ That faith in man can have no effect upon the faith- 



190 



FAITH. 



fulness of God. Though some do not believe, ye; God 
is faithful and true." The controversy ought then, in 
reality, to be with the Apostle, and not with me, for 
when I assert that a want of faith cannot cause God's 
faithfulness to fail, I am but repeating the clear and un- 
questionable doctrine of my text. 

But there are on record some facts, that can be heard 
upon this subject, and to them I will appeal for a further 
illustration of the truth of my position. When God 
speaks eiiher a threatening or a promise, he is faithful to 
his word, and I propose to look back for a moment and 
inquire what effect faith or unbelief has had upon the 
faithfulness of God, as manifested in the fulfilment of 
his threatenings of punishment upon the guilty. 

Look at the years beyond the flood, and learn wisdom 
from the fate of the Antediluvians. They had become 
grossly corrupt and hopelessly wicked, and God threat- 
ened to destroy them with a flood. He commissioned 
Noah to make known this, his determination, and ac- 
cordingly while the ark was in preparation he preached 
righteousness to the people, and warned them, that God 
had threatened to sweep them from the face of the earth 
by a flood. But they heeded him not. His admonitions 
passed as the idle wind, and his words were to them as 
one that mocked. They believed not, but God was 
faithful. The rushing orrents of water, the open win- 
dows of heaven, the bicken fountains of the great deep, 
and the desolated earth bore witness, that when God 
speaks, he is faithful to the performance of his word, 
though man believes not. 

Take another illustration. The children of Jacob 
lived in peace, for aught that would appear to the con- 
trary, until there came an intimation that God would 
raise Joseph above his brethren. The brethren would 



FATTTT. 



191 



not believe that such a thing would be brought to pass, 
and in order to make sure work of it, they sold him a 
slave into Egypt. But mark the wonders of the divine 
power. God's purpose was fulfilled, and even the very 
means that they employed in their blindness to justify 
their unbelief, were made the instruments of manifest- 
ing the divine faithfulness, and proving that God is not 
less true when men reject his truth than when they 
receive it by faith. 

The case of the Jews in the days of the Saviour, will 
afford you another illustration of the point in hand. God 
by the mouth of his prophets had threatened against 
them, the most severe and extraordinary judgements. He 
had forewarned them, that their city and their temple 
should be destroyed, and the whole nation should be 
scattered, a proverb and a by-word among all people. 
Jesus came and sounded the alarm, informing them that 
the day of their downfall was drawing nigh ; that even 
upon that generation, there should come a time of 
trouble, such as had not been from the beginning of the 
world to that same time, and upon their heads should 
fall all the righteous blood that had been shed upon the 
face of the earth. But they did not believe, and though 
he wrought many mighty works in confirmation of his 
mission, yet they rejected him and finally put him to 
death. Yet God was faithful to his word. Jerusalem 
was surrounded with armies, the glory of her temple 
was laid low, and the nation itself rent in fragments and 
scattered to the four winds of heaven. 

Now in reference to all these instances, we may with 
propriety ask, "What if some did not believe? Did 
their unbelief make the faithfulness of God of no effect ?" 
And the obvious answer is "By no means." Nor is 
there any conceivable influence, that their unbelief ex- 



192 



FAITH 



erted upon the firm and immutaDle counsels of God. 
God spoke, and it was done ; he commanded, and it stood 
fast, and though man refused to believe, yet was God 
found to be faithful to his word. 

But I need not dwell here, for the great mass of pro- 
fessors are perfectly willing to grant, and do in fact be- 
lieve, that the faith or the unbelief of man, can have no 
influence upon the faithfulness of God so far as the 
threatenings of his law are concerned. Though the 
whole world should refuse to believe, yet would God 
execute them every one. And yet, strange as it may 
appear, when we come to the u sure mercies of David" 
and the blessings promised in the covenant of eternal 
mercy and truth, we shall be told, that God will not be- 
stow the blessings, because man, in his blindness, does 
not believe that he intends to do so ! Will it please 
some man well skilled in the mysteries of the day, to 
inform us what good reason there is for supposing, that 
God will be less faithful in the performance of his promises 
of grace than in the execution of the threatenings of his 
law ? The light of heaven never shone upon a darker in- 
consistency than this. When God threatened to destroy 
the old world, he was faithful and true, notwithstanding 
their unbelief. But when he promises to pour down the 
waters of salvation like an overflowing stream from on 
high, until they shall cover the earth as the waters cover 
the face of the sea— Ah ! then we begin to hear of faith, 
and of the power of unbelief to prevent the fulfilment of 
the gracious word ! When God threatened to scatter the 
Jews among all people, he was faithful, and the work 
was done, though they believed not ; but when he 
promises to gather them all together again and with 
them the fulness of the Gentiles; yea, when he lifts his 
immortal hand and siuears by himself, because there is 



FAITH. 



193 



none greater, that in Christ, he will bless 1 all nations 
and kindreds, and families of the earth ;" then we hear, 
that it is all suspended upon the contingency of faith, and 
that God cannot fulfil the promise, because man will 
not believe. I pray you think of these things, and if in 
all the threatenings of his word, God is faithful and true 
though men do not believe, what wonderful sagacity is 
this by which you have discovered, or by what rule of 
logic have you come to the conclusion, that God is not 
equally faithful in his promises of salvation even though 
men do not believe ? 

Shall I be told, that these promises are conditional and 
the condition is faith ? I appeal to the promises them- 
selves, and they shall refute the assertion. The promise 
to Abraham is called by the Apostle, the Gospel which 
was preached to that Patriarch, and thus it reads: "By 
myself have I sworn, for because thou hast done this, 
and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, surely in 
blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will mul- 
tiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and he shall pos- 
sess the gates of his enemies, and in thy seed shall all 
nations be blessed." There is no intimation that this 
promise depends for its fulfilment upon the faith of man. 

The apostle speaks of its. stability thus: "When God 
made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by 
none greater, he swore by himself \ that by two immuta- 
ble things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we 
might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge 
to lay hold on the hope set before us ; which hope we 
have as an anchor to the soul sure and steadfast." 

Again, hear the word of the Lord. " I have sworn by 
myself, the word hath gone out of my mouth in righte- 
ousness and shall not return, that unto me every knee 
shall bow, and every tongue shall swear, surely shall 
17 



194 



FAITH. 



say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength." is 
there aught in such language as this, to countenance the 
idea, that the promised blessing was made dependent 
upon man's faith, or that it would be withheld if men 
did not believe ? You know the answer that truth must 
give, and I leave it with yon. satisfied that you will 
answer it correctly. 

I have now told you what faith cannot do. It cannot 
make God more faithfH, nor a want of it cause his faith- 
fulness to fail; and I p^sume there are seme of my 
hearers who will be rea y to slide into the opposite ex- 
treme, and say, that if I am right, then faith is of no use 
at all. There are many who cannot see what on earth 
should induce Universalists to preach, or exert them- 
selves at all to make men believe. If, say they, your 
doctrine be true, and God will bless and save all men in 
another world, whether they believe or not, pray what 
is the use of faith, or what difference does it make 
whether a man believes or not ? This is a question 
often asked, and it shall now be my business fairly and 
fully to answer it. 

I. Faith saves man from the darkness and gloom of 
atheism. 

I can hardly imagine a more miserable condition for 
man than to be without hope and without God in the 
world. The child whose parent has gone down to the 
grave, and who is left an orphan, claims our pity. He 
looks around him, and there is none to whom he can go 
for protection and help. He looks to the future, and 
knows that the path before him is beset with thorns on 
every side, and 11 dangers stand thick through all the 
way." He feels that he must tread that path alone, 
and single-handed meet the ills of life, while doubt and 
gloom brood over the result. As feels that orphan, so 



FAITH. 



95 



feels the man who looks up to heaven, and knows no 
Father there. He sees chaos and confusion around him, 
and he knows that soon " life's busy day will be o'er," 
and believes that the hour that lays his head in the dust, 
will witness the eternal end of all his hopes and joys — 
nay, of his existence itself. 

Now, Christian faith saves men from this darksome 
gloom. It fills the throne of the universe with a God 
of infinite wisdom and goodness, and sheds a halo of 
glory over all the things of earth, for it presents them 
all as under the direction and control of a being too wise 
to err, and too good to do an injury to any of his creatures. 
It plants in the heart a child-like confidence in God, and 
makes man feel like the child that is encircled in the 
arms of a merciful father. 

II. It saves from the wretchedness, degradation and 
misery of superstition and idolatry. 

There are few men on earth, who have so far divested 
themselves of those feelings of dependance, inherent in 
human nature, as to deny the existence of a God. But 
it unfortunately happens that many believe in, and wor- 
ship gods worse than none, whose existpnce is to them 
the most bitter curse they have to depiore. The gods 
of the heathen are, for the most part, tyrants of the 
worst stamp. Wrath that burns exceedingly hot, and 
cruelty that sheds not a tear, and heaves not a sigh, over 
the woes of humanity, are the most prominent features 
of their character. Before them the slave cringjs with 
fear and trembling, and the crouching menial howls in 
deep despair. On their altars victims bleed and die, and 
humanity shudders around to witness deeds of blood 
and cruelty. We, to be sure, are far removed from 
such scenes, and think little of them ; but yet it is a 
melancholy truth, that there is not a wind that blows* 



196 



FAITH. 



which does not waft the deep waitings of suffering igno* 
ranee ; nor does the thunder utter its voice but it is taken 
as the signal for keener pains, and greater and more 
heart-rending sacrifices upon the altars of superstition. 

Faith in the Gospel saves from this ignorance, and all 
its attendant train of cruelties, miseries, and immorali- 
ties. It makes the temple of worship the hallowed 
sanctuary of joy, and diffuses all abroad in society an 
influence, that softens and refines, and brings man up to 
the true dignity of his nature. I ask the hearer to com- 
pare the condition of the Christian worshipper, with 
that of the deluded mortal who bows down at the shrine 
of idolatry, and behold the work of faith. I ask you to 
compare our own country, with those barbarous nations 
where the light of Christianity never shone, and ask 
what makes the difference ? It is faith, and nothing 
else, that has wrought that difference. Christian faith 
has gone forth in its power, and changed the " tiger to 
the lamb, and the vulture to the dove." All that we 
are, above the pagan, who casts himself down to be 
crushed beneath the wheels of an idol's car, we owe to 
the Gospel of Christ. Faith has done it all, and but for 
that faith, you and I would this day have bowed down 
to gods of wood and stone. 

III. Faith saves from doubt and fear of the future. 

The future is dark and gloomy to the mind that is 
not enlightened by the knowledge of Christ. The 
grave yawns in darkness at our feet, and what awaits 
us beyond that narrow house, no mortal man can tell. 
But faith speaks, and life dawns upon the death of the 
grave, and the vision of a world redeemed from sin and 
death, and made holy and happy in the heavenly king- 
dom, bursts upon our view. Sin is destroyed, death 
conquered, and all created humanity delivered from 



FAITH. 



bondage, and translated into the glorious libertj of th« 
children of God. 

Do you ask me then what faith can do ? My answer 
is, it can save man from error, superstition, sin, misery, 
and fear. It can give us good hope and everlasting con- 
solation, keep us humble in prosperity, sustain us in ad- 
versity, direct us in all difficulties, support us in sickness, 
and put a song of victory upon our tongues in the hour 
of death. It can make the dying bed feel soft as downy 
pillows are, and when heart and flesh has failed, and the 
dim eye has closed upon all the beauties of earth, and 
the frail body lies silent in the grave, it can linger around 
the house of mourning, and pour its heavenly consola- 
tions into the bleeding bosoms of the afflicted — wipe the 
falling tear from the eye of the widow, and hush the 
moan of her fatherless children, with its inspiring hopes. 
Oh ! ye afflicted and poor, ye sick and ye sorrowful, ye 
mourning sons and daughters of sorrow, hold fast the 
priceless treasures of faith. It is 

" A sovereign balm for every wound, 
A cordial for your fears." 

Hold it fast, and by no means let it go. And ye, who 
are without hope and without God in the world ;ye who 
are thoughtless and giddy and who care for none of these 
things, seek ye a living faith as the greatest of all earthly 
blessings. The day is coming when you will need it. 
Misfortunes will befall you, your earthly hopes will be 
blasted, and then you will need the sustaining power of 
faith. But if you could escape these, still there is a 
solemn day com ing when you will feel your need of a faith 
so much divine. Sickness and pain will overtake you. 
Those rosy cheeks will be pale — those sparkling eyes 
will be sunken and dim — that blooming countenance wiU 
'17* 



198 



FAITH. 



be haggard and ghastly, and that form, so erect and beau* 
tiful, will be emaciated and poor upon a dying bed. Some 
friendly voice will whisper in thy ear the solemn truth, 
that the day of thy death draweth nigh, and the hour of 
thy departure is at hand Then, if not before, will you 
feel your need of faith in a better and happier land. 
Oh ! for God's sake, and for your own sake, lay up treas- 
ures against a day like this, and let your prayer be, 

u Oh ! for a strong, a lasting faith, 
To credit what Jehovah saith, 
To hear the message of his Son, 
And call the joys of heaven our own." 



INFLUENCE OF UNIVERSAL1SM. 



109 



SERMON XIV. 
INFLUENCE OF UNI VER S ALISM. 

" Come thou with us and we will do thee good j for the Lord hath spoken 
good concerning Israel." Numbers x. 29. 

In my previous lectures, I have endeavored to prove 
the truth of the great and leading doctrines of that 
system of faith, which is known under the name of 
Universalis™. In the present discourse I intend to lay 
before you, an exposition of the influence which I sup- 
pose these doctrines are calculated to exercise, upon the 
hearts and the lives of those who believe. 

There is perhaps no one question more frequently put 
by the opposers of the doctrine of Universal Salvation, 
than this, what good will it do to preach or believe it, 
even if it be true ? The question is an important one, 
and it shall be treated with all that candor which its 
importance so obviously demands. 

I profess to you that I would not advocate a system 
which I did not most religiously believe calculated to 
promote the interests of man. But believing as I do, 
most heartily, that every man, woman and child, would 
be benefited by faith in the doctrine of impartial grace, 
I am constrained to proclaim it in the midst of obloquy 
and reproach, and to cry unto you with affectionate 
earnestness, " Come thou with us and we will do thee 
good." If you ask me what good it would do you to 
believe in this doctrine ? My answer is, 



200 



INFLUENCE OF UNIVERSALIS*!. 



I. It would increase your happiness. 

I make this remark, with the intention of applying it 
in its broadest and most literal sense. I make no ex- 
ceptions, but I say there is no human being who would 
not be made more happy by a living faith in the im- 
mortal purity and everlasting felicity of the whole hu- 
man family. I care not what your present faith may be ; I 
care not whether you agree, at present, with the atheist, 
deist, skeptic, or with any one of the numerous denom- 
inations of professing christians; one thing I know, you 
have not a faith which presents more glorious hopes, or 
more heart-cheering anticipations than Universalism, 
and it is impossible for you to invent one that shall do 
so. Immortality and perfect unalloyed felicity for all 
created intelligences, is the " summum oonum, " the " ne 
plus ultra " of all good, beyond which imagination itself 
cannot proceed. I say, therefore, there is no man among 
you, who would not be made happier by a firm faith in 
a system which promises all that the benevolent heart 
can wish, and even more than the most lively imagina- 
tion can conceive. Let us see if I am not right here. 

Suppose you are an atheist ; you believe that this 
beautiful world came into existence by chance, or sprang 
from the operation of the laws of matter; and that all 
its vast concerns are going on at hap-hazard, or are sub- 
ject only to the laws of nature. And as for yourself, 
you are but the being of a day, the offspring of chance, 
ushered into life, like the insect whose wing glitters in 
the sunbeam, to sport your little hour, and die to live nc 
more. You look upward to heaven, and there is nc 
Father there. You look around you, and all is confu- 
sion. You look forward, and all is darkness and gloom. 
You look downward, and the grave yawns at your feet, 
and the highest hope yoa have, is that there you will 



INFLUENCE OF UNIVERSALIS*!. 



201 



soon feed the greedy worm, and moulder back to your 
native dust ! 

Need I compare such a faith with that of the chris- 
tian, in ordv^r to show that so far as its influence upon 
human happiness is concerned, the latter is as much 
above the former, as the heavens are above the earth. 
I trust such a work is unnecessary, for I have seen the 
atheist, or at least the man who professed to have no 
faith in a God, and from his own lips have I had the 
confession of the happifying influence of the christian 
faith. Never did I see the man of this sort who would 
not say to me, " Sir, I wish I could believe as you do, 
for could I look up to heaven, and feel that I had a friend 
and a father there, who would take care of me all my 
life long, and crown me with immortality at last, I know 
I should be a happier, if not a better man." I say then 
that Universalism heartily believed, would make the 
atheist more happy than he can be without it. 

But suppose you are a deist ; you believe in the God 
of nature, and in his general providence, but you have 
no idea that he stoops to converse with man, or to reveal 
to him his character or purposes. You know that you 
must die, and have no hope that you shall live again. 
The day of your death is the boundary of all your ex- 
pectations, and you have no idea that you shall live at 
all beyond the grave. To you heaven is a dream, and 
immortality a fable. Your children and friends are 
dying around you, and when you part with them you 
part to meet no more, and you expect soon to close your 
own eyes upon all the endearments of earth, and bid a 
sad and eternal farewell to friends and friendship, to hope 
and happiness, nay, even to existence itself. 

I am willing to grant that this faith is better than 
atheism, for there is some little comfort to be derived 



202 



INFLUENCE OF UNIVERSALIS.^!. 



from the thought that the affairs of this world are 
measurably under the government and control of a wise 
and good creator and governor. But I utter a philo- 
sophical, as well as a scriptural truth, when I say that 
this cannot satisfy the desires of the mind, or still those 
yearnings after immortality which are inwoven with 
the very constitution of the human soul. Man is so 
made, that he must necessarily and unavoidably look for- 
ward to the future, and hope or fear. 

" The soul uneasy and confined from home, 
Rests aud expatiates in the world to come." 

I have said that this is with man unavoidable, for I 
believe that he can no more avoid looking into the future, 
than he can avoid looking backward and remembering 
the past. But whether it be absolutely unavoidable or 
not, is of little consequence to our present argument. 
There is no doubt of the fact, that all men everywhere 
do draw upon the future for, sources of enjoyment; and 
there is just as little doubt that a large share of human 
happiness is derived from ai ticipation. Some have gone 
so far as to maintain, that the pleasure derived from 
anticipated good, is greater than that produced by the 
actual possession of the good itself. However this may 
be, it is nevertheless, positively certain, that hope opens 
rich fountains of happiness to man ; and hence it fol- 
lows, that any system which limits the sphere of hope 
to a few years, and cuts it short at death, must deprive 
man of one of the richest sources of happiness. But I 
need not argue this questicn, for I know not that it is 
often dispute j, that a firm hope in future and immortal 
blessedness, is a blessing well calculated to promote the 
happiness of man. I may add, that this is a fountain 
which remains full and overflowing, at the very time 



INFLUENCE OF UNIVERSALIS!*!. 



203 



when it is needed most, when all other sources of felici- 
ty have failed. 

To the deist, then, we say, " Come thou with us, and 
we will do thee good." We will give thee a hope that 
shall make thee happy. We will inspire thee with confi- 
dence in God, as a friend, in whom we may at all 
times tnist without fear of danger or disappointment. 
We will give thee a hope that shall cheer thee in life, 
grow brighter and brighter, as the lamp of life burns 
dim and feeble; sustain thee in affliction, and give 
thee a triumphant song of victory, when death shall 
claim his tribute. 

Suppose, again, you are a Christian ; but have unfor- 
tunately embraced those narrow views of the economy 
of your Father's grace, that so extensively and unhap- 
pily prevail in the church, at the present day. You be- 
lieve that " God from all eternity, has elected some men 
to be redeemed and everlastingly saved by Christ Jesus, 
and the remainder he was pleased to pass by, and or- 
dain to dishonor and wrath, to the praise of his vindic- 
tive justice." Can such a faith make you calmly and 
peacefully happy in life, and resigned and joyous in the 
hour of death ? I doubt it much, because, in the first 
place, you cannot know for a positive certainty that you 
are one of the very and precious elect of God ; and so 
long as there is a lingering doubt upon that question, 
you must be measurably unhappy. But, in the second 
place, even if it were possible to remove all doubt upon 
that question, even that would not be fully satisfactory. 
There are ties that bind you to your fellow-creatures, 
and give you a deep and abiding interest in their wel- 
fare. I will therefore view your case in the most fa- 
vorable light. I will suppose that your election is sure, 
and you are persuaded, beyond the possibility of a doubt 



204 INFLUENCE OF UNIVERSALIS!*. 

that your name is enrolled among the number of the 
precious elect of God. I ask, can even this satisfy you ? Is 
there no soul out of the ark of safety in whose welfare 
you feel an interest ? Are there not those around you 
that you love ? And have you no heart to feel for 
them ? I ask, how is it, when you look upon a cherish- 
ed child of your love, and behold the indelible mark of 
reprobation stamped upon its countenance ? Ah, I 
know how it is. Your feelings are like those of the 
good old patriarch, when the bloody coat was brought 
home, and he knew it belonged to his darling Joseph ; 
and he refused to be comforted, saying, " I will go down 
to the grave, to my son, mourning. " No man can be 
fully satisfied with a faith which presents him with a 
reasonable probability, nay, an absolute certainty, that 
myriads of his fellow-creatures, and perhaps among 
them his own children, will fall victims to a hopeless 
decree of utter and eternal reprobation. 

I grant that, with such views, you may at times en- 
joy a kind of satisfaction in the hope that dear and be 
loved self is safe; but that any man who has a 
head to reason, and a heart to feel, can possibly be at 
happy with such a faith, as he would be with one that 
embraced the whole world in the sure and steadfast cov- 
enant of redeeming grace, is altogether out of the 
question. 

But I will make another supposition. You have re- 
jected the notion of election and reprobation. You now 
believe that God offers salvation freely to all his crea- 
tures; and that they may all be saved, if they will com- 
ply with the conditions of grace. Those who comply 
with these conditions will be saved, and those who do 
not comply will be lost. The question is, whether this 
faith is best calculated to promote human happiness ? 1 



1NFLUENCF OF UNIVERSAL ISM. 



205 



judge not, for no man can be positively certain that he 
has, and that he will, to the end of his life, continue to 
do all those things on which his eternal all depends. 
So long as there is doubt upon that head, it will be a 
constant source of misery. In fact, the foundation of 
hope in this system, is far more unsubstantial than in 
the other. The man who believes in sovereign election, 
if he can satisfy himself that he is elected, can rest se- 
cure in the steadfast hope that he will be saved, and 
that no power in heaven or earth can prevent it. But 
it is a large discount from this, to embrace a faith 
which puts us in jeopardy every hour, lest some false 
step of ours should plunge us in ceaseless perdition. 

But I will do here as in the other case. I will place 
the matter in its most favorable aspect before you. You 
are now satisfied of your own safety, and there remains 
no lingering doubt that when you depart from this 
world, your soul will wing its way to the realms of eter- 
nal blessedness and joy. Is that all you want ? And 
are you now satisfied, and perfectly happy ? Dear man ! 
Have you no wife ? No children ? No friends ? No 
human being that you love ? If you have, where are 
your bowels of mercy and your feelings of compassion, 
that you can be happy while the storm of endless 
wrath is gathering, fearful and dark, and their unshelter- 
ed heads are exposed, naked, to its fury? I know not 
but you may be comfortable with such a faith, but I do 
know, from bitter experience, that I could not. And that 
any man, who loves his neighbour as himself, can be as 
happy with such a faith, as he would be with one that 
promises life and immortality to a world, is absolutely 
impossible. 

The man who cherishes such a faith, may have sea- 
sons of joy. He may have occasional gleamings of sun 
18 v 



206 



[NFLUENCE OF UNIVERSAL ISM. 



shine, but the broad daylight of felicity, pure and perpet- 
ual, he may not expect. He may reflect upon heaven 
and its glories, its songs of joy and anthems of cease- 
less praise, and the prospect of obtaining a habitation 
there, may cause him to rejoice. But he must also look 
at the other side of the picture ; and when he thinks ot 
hell, with all its horrors, its dire music of misery, and its 
groans of everlasting despair, and remembers that him- 
self, or his children, may one day be there, his soul dies 
within him, and his joy is turned to mourning. He finds 
in the thought, as did the eloquent Saurin, " A mortal 
poison, diffusing itself through every period of life, ren- 
dering society tiresome, pleasure insipid, and life itself a 
cruel bitter." " Come thou with us, and we will do 
thee good." Believe in the full, free, perfect, and sure 
salvation of a world, and thou shah be saved — saved 
from those doubts and fears, that now " waste your 
faith and nourish your despair." Ye have need to learn 
that God is unchangably " good unto ail, and his tender 
mercies are over all the works of his hands" — that he has 
linked the eternal glory of his creatures fast to his own 
throne, by the strong and indissoluble chain of his love, 
and that no power in heaven or on earth, in time, or 
eternity, can pluck us out of his hands. Learn this, I 
pray you, and your joys shall be abundant, and ye will 
tell me, as every man who believes will tell me, that 
faith has made you happier. It has dispelled the clouds 
of darkness that brooded over the future, and raised you 
up to better prospects and more glorious hopes. But I 
observe that faith in the doctrine of universal salvation 
will not only make you happier, but, 
II. It will make you better, 

I am not among the number of those who contend 
that it is no matter what a man believes ; for I am sure 



INFLUENCE OF UNI VERS ALXSM. 



207 



that faith exercises a most powerful influence upon the 
character and the conduct of man. The great part of 
that which we are in the habit of considering as our 
stock of knowledge, is no more nor less than faith ; and 
there are comparatively but few of the acts of our lives, 
that proceed from what we positively know. " We 
walk by faith, and not by sight," is no less a truth of expe- 
rience than of scripture. Let a man look upon the Mo- 
hammedan, ready at all times to raise a sword in an in- 
discriminate slaughter of all that do not bow down at 
the altar of the Arabian prophet, and let him tell me, if 
he can, what but faith is it that makes the difference 
between that man and the Christian? And I greatly 
err, if a view of the matter in this light does not oblige 
him to confess, that there is some little consequence at- 
tached to the great question, what a man shall, and 
what he shall not believe. Among the different sects of 
Christians, separated as they are by minor points, the 
difference may not be so great, as between the Christian 
and the Mohammedan faith. But that there is a differ- 
ence in the moral influence of different systems among 
Christians, there can be no doubt. 

You have, many of you, been in the habit of sup- 
posing that Universalism had no requirements to ask of 
its believers, and that its moral influence must be deci- 
dedly bad, and you maybe surprised to hear me advocate 
its claims as an instrument of moral reform. But so it 
must be. I distinctly claim for the doctrine of univer- 
sal grace, not only an equal share of moral power with 
other systems ; but I claim for it a purer, higher and ho- 
lier moral influence, than can be exerted by any other 
system; and I give it you, as the deliberate conviction 
of my judgement, that there is no man among you who 
would not be made letter by faith in that doctrine, and 



20S 



JNFLUENCE OF UNIVERSALIS*!. 



a life corresponding with its requirements. And now 
for the reasons which induce me to hold this opinion. 

I might indeed insist upon this, as a legitimate con- 
clusion from my previous position, that it will make 
men happier, for I hold it as an incontrovertible truth, 
that you cannot make a man happier without at the 
same time making him better. Happiness is our being's 
end and aim, and it is in pursuit of this, that we perform 
every act of our lives. It is a want of this that leads 
men into sin. It is a restless, uneasy and unsatisfied 
spirit, that goads men on and urges them to the commis- 
sion of all those foul deeds that disgrace humanity, and 
I risk nothing in saying, that no man ever yet committed 
a crime when he was calm, contented, satisfied and 
happy. In proportion, therefore, as any doctrine is cal- 
culated to satisfy our desires for happiness, will it exert 
a salutary moral influence. 

If therefore, the doctrine of Universal Grace, is, as I 
have shown, "better calculated to make men calmly and 
peacefully happy, than any other system, it follows as a 
legitimate conclusion, that it will exert the most power- 
ful and salutary moral influence. But I will not insist 
on this argument for there are an abundance of evidences 
in favor of our position without it. 

I. It presents the only salutary doctrine of punishment. 

There is no greater error than the supposition, that 
man's respect and reverence for law, is increased by ad- 
ding to the amount of the penalty. In fact the very 
reverse of this proposition comes much nearer the truth 
than the proposition itself. The whole history of the 
world will bear witness, that in all ages, and in all 
countries, those laws have been most respected and best 
obeyed, whose penalties have been most mild and mer- 
riful. But when tyrants have ruled with a rod of iron, 



INFLUENCE OF UN f VERSALISM. 



209 



and sought to enforce obedience to their laws, by means 
of most severe and unmerciful punishmenis, then the 
weak and timid have despaired, and the stout-hearted 
nave despised them, and transgression has abounded. 
Now the common doctrine of punishment annexes to 
the law of God a most unmerciful penalty ; it makes 
God punish men eternally, and of course without any 
design to do them the least possible good. With such 
views the feeble in mind despair, and contract a mor- 
bid insensibility to danger, and the strong in spirit brave 
it out, despising not only the law, but also the lawgiver. 
They look upon God as a hard master, who rules with 
a despotic sway — upon his law as a grevious burden — 
upon themselves as slaves, who have no further interest 
in obedience, than an escape from the merciless wrath 
of a despotic lawgiver. 

On the other hand, Universalism makes punishment 
mild and merciful — the law itself holy artd good — man 
a child, and the penalty of the law, the wise and salu- 
tary chastisement of a kind friend, who seeks by it to 
turn our wandering feet from the way of destruction 
and misery, to the path of virtue, where alone we can 
be happy. Now I say that in order for punishment to 
be effectual, its justice must be seen, and its goodness 
appreciated. Any other view of punishment though it 
may make slaves and hypocrites, can never produce that 
cheerful and spontaneous obedience which flows from a 
willing heart. I say, therefore, that Universalism is 
calculated to exert a higher and purer moral influence 
than any other system, because it appeals to the hearts, 
rather than the fears of men. 

But again. Punishment in order to be effectual, must 
be speedy and certain. In both these respects, our views 
of punishment have a decided advantage over all othei 
18* 



210 



INFLUENCE OF UNIVERSALIS*!. 



systems. The common doctrines of the day, do indeed 
threaten a most tremendously severe punishment, but 
they nullify its influence by placing it far in the future, 
for their language is like that of the false prophets of 
Israel, " He prophesies of the things that are afar off, 
and the vision that he seeth is for many days to come." 
But to cap the climax, and as if on purpose to palliate 
all fear, and destroy entirely the influence of punishment, 
they offer to the vilest sinner, an easy method of escap- 
ing from that punishment, which is, in the first place, 
removed to the dim distance of future years, far beyond 
the reach of mortal vision. 

Should our legislature pass a law, that the man who 
was guilty of theft should be punished with death at 
the stake, thirty years from the time of transgression, 
you would at once say, that although the punishment 
was severe, yet it could have no effect, for the reason 
that it was too far off. But should they add a clause, 
providing that at any time during the thirty years, the 
thief shall have the privilege of repenting, and if he 
does so, the punishment shall not be inflicted at all, you 
would laugh them to scorn. And yet this is a faithful 
and true, though faint representation of the common 
notion of the law of God and its penalty. He has given 
to man a law, and annexed to that law a penalty, incon- 
ceivably lasting and severe. But when we ask is it to 
be inflicted ? The answer is, not while man shall live 
in this world. It is reserved to another state of exis- 
tence, and is placed behind that curtain which separates 
time from eternity. And will it certainly be inflicted 
upon every man that violates the law? Oh ! no, for the 
most hardened offender can at any time, during this life 
repent, and in one brief hour he shall be placed out of 
all danger from the penalty of the law. Thus do these 



INFLUENCE OF UNIVERSALIS!*!. 



211 



doctrines perpetually cry, in the language of the serpent, 
" Ye shall not surely die " Ye may sin, and ye shall 
have your whole lives given you to perform a work which 
can be done in an hour, and when done, shall give you 
a clear escape from the penalty of the law. 

On the other hand, Universalism teaches that the pen- 
alty of the law, though mild and merciful, is speedy and 
sure. Her language is, " In the day that thou eatest 
of the fruit of sin, thou shalt surely die," and there is no 
escape, for " he that doeth wrong shall receive for the 
wrong that he hath done, and there is no respect of per- 
sons." Ye may flatter yourselves that punishment is 
far away, and with a hope of an easy escape, but it is an 
idle dream. It is nigh thee, even at thy doors, and will 
most surely come upon thee. These are the doctrines 
of Universalism upon the subject of punishment, and it is 
evident, at a glance, that they are capable of exercising 
a far more powerfully restraining influence than any 
other system can boast. 

II. Universalism presents the character of God ir^such 
a light that it will draw out the affections of the believ- 
er's heart in love to him, and good will to his children. 

Love to God, and good will to man, lie at the founda- 
tion of all true morality- On these two commands 
hang all the law and the prophets. That system, there- 
fore, is best calculated to exercise a salutary, moral in 
fiuence, which can best secure obedience to these two 
requirements. Now, I say, that the best possible way 
to make a man love God, is, to stamp on his mind the 
conviction, that God is his friend and his father. Yon 
may draw a picture of the great divinity, clothed in ven- 
geance as with a garment, and roll over the head of the 
sinner the tremendous thunders of eternal wrath, to the 
end of his days, and though you mar thus make him 



212 



INFLUENCE OF UNIVERSALISM. 



tremble like a slave, you cannot make him love like a 
child. But tell a man that God is good ; stamp on his mind 
the full conviction, that in heaven there is one who is bet- 
ter than all, whose kindness knows no bounds, and whose 
faithfulness will never leave nor forsake the souls that 
lie has made ; and then you touch the heart and draw 
out the soul in love to him, as a being infinitely worthy 
of the warmest devotions of the mind. This is what 
Universalism teaches, and hence I say, that before all 
systems, and above all systems, it is most powerful in its 
influence to secure love to God. 

Love to our neighbor is the next in the catalogue oi 
moral virtues. How shall that be secured? Not by 
convincing a man that his neighbor is a mass of total 
depravity, hated of God, and destined to be fuel for hell 
fire, and fit only for a companion of devils. Such views 
as these can never go one step toward making a man 
love his neighbor. But convince a man that his neigh- 
bor is his brother, a child of the same God, and an heir 
of the same immortal and incorruptible inheritance, and 
when that truth is fixed in the mind, he will love him, 
as one to whom he is bound by a common interest, com- 
mon origin, and common destiny. This is what Uni- 
versalism teaches. It tells a man to recognise in all 
around him, the children of the same God, and the 
heirs of the same inheritance as himself, and calls on 
him to love them with the whole heart. Its moral in- 
fluence then must be good, for it will produce love to 
God and good will to man ; and as for all other moral du- 
ties, they are but the streams that flow from this foun- 
tain. Keep the fountain full, and the streams will not 
fctil to flow continually. 

I am frequently questioned upon the subject of the re- 
quirements of Universalism. If that be true, what has 



INFLUENCE OF UNIVERSALIS^. 2X3 

man to do ? is the question. I answer, " Love the Lord 
thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbour as thyself." 
That is all. If you love God, you will serve him, and 
if you love your neighbour, you will do him good and 
not evil. 

There are many other views that I might take of the 
subject, all tending to establish the truth of the position 
I have assumed. But I am admonished tbat it is time 
to bring this discourse to a close. I can prove, with the 
clearness of light, in theory, that, upon all the known 
principles and laws of the human mind, Universalism is 
superior to any other system in its moral tendency. But 
after all, it is better to do so practically. Let us live the 
doctrine we profess, and we shall demonstrate the fact, 
beyond all controversy. Bigotry may resist the force of 
evidence, and sophistry may evade the most cogent rea- 
soning ; but there is a silent power in virtue, that noth- 
ing can withstand. 

Again, then, I say, let those who profess to believe, 
live as their faith dictates; and though a silent, yet will 
it be a more powerful argument, in favor of the moral 
power of the doctrine, than I could put together, even 
though I could come to you with the r*al of a Paul, and 
fhs eloquence of an Apollos ! 



314 



DECISION OF CBkRACTOL 



SERMON XV. 



DECISION OF CHARACTER A RELIGIOUS 
DUTY. 

"How long halt ye, between two opinions? If the Lonl be God.foIloU 
him ; but if Baal, then follow him. 1 Kings xviii. 21. 

The Scriptures enjoin upon men the utmost frankness, 
honesty and decision of character. Hypocrisy, whether 
it proceed from irresolution, motives of policy, or dis- 
honesty of mind, finds no excuse in the teachings of the 
sacred volume. It is taken for granted, that the subject 
of religion is of sufficient importance, to give it a claim 
upon the attention of every man. And for this reason 
the Bible appeals to all men, everywhere, to make up 
their minds upon the subject, and to act according to the 
teachings of the judgement, and the admonitions of con- 
science, in all honesty and sincerity before God and man. 
* We are not however required to rush blindly into this 
matter, as the horse rusheth into the battle, but we are 
first to prove all things, and having proved them, to hold 
fast that which is good. So thought Elijah in the text, 
and the circumstances with which it stands connected. 
The people worshipped rai idol called Baal, and when 
they had gathered together, he proposed to give them a 
test of the respective merits of Baal and the God of 
Israel. And when he should have placed before them 
the means of firming a correct opinion, he exhorts them 
to make no delay, but to choose for themselves, once and 



A RELIGIOUS DUTY. 



215 



for ever, whom they would follow. I have no time to 
spend upon these circumstances, and that work may be 
unnecessary, as I presume you have already anticipated 
the use I intend to make of the exhortation of the text. 

This is the last of the series of lectures in which I 
have been for some time past engaged. I have endeav- 
ored to set before you the difference between our faith, 
and the popular creeds of the day, as well as the rea- 
sons we render for our opinions. I have labored, to the 
best of my feeble abilities, to put you in possession of 
the means of judging between ours, and the prevailing 
views of the character of God, and the economy of his 
grace. In the present discourse I would persuade you, 
if I could, to come to a definite conclusio in the case, 
and having decided, to act as honesty anu duty shall 
dictate, without fear or favor. 

I have no disposition to conceal the fact, that there is 
a wide and irreconcilable difference between us and oui 
opposers, nor can it be denied that if we are right, they 
are wrong, not merely in some small points, but radi- 
cally and I had almost said totally wrong. This is a 
truth with which we are well acquainted, and that man 
pursues a mistaken policy, nay, even a wicked course of 
hypocrisy, who attempts to conceal this fact. There is 
no manner of use in endeavouring to make it appear, 
that there is but a shade of difference between us and 
other denominations, for there is a difference, high as 
heaven, wide as, the earth ; a difference as hopelessly 
and utterly irreconcilable as light and darkness, and 
there is no disguising the obvious truth, that if one system 
is true the other is false, desperately and hopelessly false, 
I had almost said, in its whole length and breadth. 

I make these remarks because, in my judgement, they 
have an important bearinar upon our duty in the case* 



216 



DECISION OF CHARACTER, 



If there was but a slight shade of difference between us. 
then it would be of little consequence which we should 
choose, or indeed whether we made any choice at all. 
Had Baal and the God of Israel been so very near alike, 
that one could scarcely tell the difference between the 
two, we should never have heard Elijah caMingupon the 
people, with such earnestness as he evidently manifests 
in the text, to choose whom they would serve. But the 
prophet felt that there was a wide, and an irreconcila- 
ble difference between the two. He knew if the Lord 
was God, Baal was a dumb idol, and his worship the 
grossest idolatry, and that it was impossible for the peo- 
ple innocently to worship both God and Baal, and for 
this reason he called on them to make their election, 
and having made it, to act as honesty and sincerity 
should dictate. So in this case, there is a difference be- 
tween Universalism and Partialism, so wide that they 
cannot both be true. A man can no more be a Univer- 
salist and a Partialist, than he could serve both God and 
Baal. Every man must be either a Partialist or a Uni- 
versalist, for he cannot be both, at one and the same 
time. I go even farther, and say that no man can inno- 
cently believe the one, and yet support the other. For 
this reason then, if for no other, it becomes your duty, 
first to examine, and then to choose between them, and 
act accordingly. I do not mean that a man is bound to 
become a flaming bigot, to " damn all parties but his 
own," and to deny all the common courtesies and civili- 
ties of life, to those who do not see with his eyes. But 
I would be understood to say distinctly, that every man 
is bound to act, in these matters with a strict and con- 
scientious regard to principle. If he believes the Lord 
to be God, he ought to worship and serve him, and he 
cannot innocently build the temples of Baal, or bow at 



A RELIGIOUS DUTY. 



217 



his altars. To speak without a figure, if a man is fully 
convinced in his own judgement that Universalis m is 
true, he is bound in all honesty to say so, and to pursue 
a corresponding course of conduct, and he cannot advo- 
cate or support any of the partial systems of the day, 
without incurring the just charge of hypocrisy, because 
the doctrines are so different that they cannot be mis- 
taken, the one for the other. 

These are positions that few would attempt to con- 
trovert in theory, and yet there are multitudes, who 
practically deny them every day of their lives. There 
are men who live to old age caring for none of these 
things, never having made them a subject of reflection 
or examination. There are others so bigoted in favor 
of Baal, that they will not examine to see whether God 
has any claims upon them or not. Still again there are 
others, (and their name is legion, for they are many) 
who, though convinced that Universalism is true, as far 
as they are convinced of any thing, yet through fear of 
reproach, love of gain, popularity, or some other unholy 
motive, turn their backs upon what they believe, and 
support that which their own judgements condemn as 
utterly false. To all these classes I appeal in this dis- 
course, and I urge it upon them, that they be either one 
thing or the other. Either condemn Universalism en- 
tirely, or act as if you believed it. "If the Lord be God 
follow him ; if Baal then follow him." 

I will now proceed to lay before you some considera- 
tions that urge to the performance of this duty. 

L The importance of the questions at issue, demand 
it at our hands. 

Were it a mere matter of idle curiosity, that could 
have no influence upon our conduct or happiness, or upon 
the interests of our fellow men, then might we be ex- 
19 



218 



DECISION OF CHARACTER, 



cused from engaging in it at all. But such is not the 
fact. The subjects involved in the controversy between 
Universalists and others, are of vast and incalculable im- 
portance; they enter into men's business and bosoms, and 
exercise a commanding and controlling interest, upon 
human happiness and public morals. So long as man 
is a frail and dependent being, living upon the bounty 
of God, and depending upon him at all times for life and 
happiness, it can never be a matter of small moment, 
whether God is a tyrant, who creates but to curse, or a 
friend whose immutable purpose it is to deliver, protect 
and bless. Nor is the fate of man in the future world 
of small consequence. As an individual, I have a deep 
and abiding interest in the question, whether I am to 
live beyond the grave ? And if so, whether I am to rise 
to a purer and happier state, or sink down to the realms 
of inconceivable and endless torment. And when I look 
around me upon my children, and feel that my own weal 
or wo, is indissolubly connected with theirs, I cannot 
deem it a matter of no importance, whether these dear 
objects of my affections, are destined in the counsels of God 
to unite their voices in the deathless song of joy on high, 
or to lift up their cries, in the wailings and contortions 
of never ending despair. In like manner, when I look 
around me upon my friends and neighbours, and feel 
that I am bound to love them, even as myself, I cannot 
persuade myself, that I ought to be indifferent to a ques- 
tion that involves their immortal happiness or misery. 
And when I send abroad my imagination to the ends of 
the earth, with all its thronging myriads of human be- 
ings, and remember that they are all bound to me by a 
common origin and a common brotherhood, I feel that 
I am interested in knowing their destiny, and I ought 
not to pass by with indifference the question, whether 



A RELIGIOUS DUTY. 



they are to be saved or damned. Just in proportion to 
the importance of these subjects, therefore, is my obli- 
gation to examine them with care ; and having ex- 
amined, to choose between them, and having chosen, to 
act accordingly. It is a question of endless joy, or cease- 
less wo ; and that, too, for unnumbered and unborn mil- 
lions of my kindred, my dearest friends, my own chil- 
dren, my companion and myself; and I ought not to hak 
between two opinions, or rest satisfied without having 
come to a firm and an unshaken conclusion. 

II. The interests of community at large require us to 
perform the duty enjoined in the text. 

This is true both in regard to the morals and the hap- 
piness of community. This world is at best but a 
state of alternate sunshine and storm, and we may not 
expect to pass through life without suffering some of its 
ills. To sustain us under these trials, we need the 
hopes and the consolations of the Gospel. But such is the 
general and dreadful apostacy from the faith of the great 
Redeemer, that the very Gospel which was given us as a 
source of richest enjoyment, is changed to a fountain of 
bitterness, and is made one of the most fruitful sources 
of misery. The sectarian dogmas of the day go into all 
the ramifications of society, and wherever they go, they 
cause many a sigh, and many a tear. The father looks 
upon his sons, and the mother upon her blooming daugh- 
ters, and their bosoms heave with anguish, as they 
reflect that these objects of their affections are out of the 
ark of safety, and may become the sport of fiends, and 
the companions of devils, in the regions of perpetual tor- 
ment. Friend looks upon friend, and weeps at the 
thought that they must part, and that while one shall 
rejoice in heaven, the other must weep in hell. Parents 
rr ourn over their children that are torn from their em- 



220 



DECISION OF CHARACTER, 



brace ly death, not so much because they are dead, as 
because they fear, awfully fear, that they are in hell. 
Widows and orphans, go to the grave of a husband and 
a father, and they mourn that their friend and protector 
is dead. But more terrible than death itself, is the 
dreadful thought that he to whom they were bound by 
ten thousand ties of love, may now be lifting up his eyes 
in the hopeless agonies of the infernal pit. They wept 
before ; but this fills the cup of sorrow with its bitterest 
dregs, and calls out the deepest moan of affliction. 
Thus it is, all abroad, around you, through all the length 
and breadth of the land ; in every city, in every street, 
in every village, in every hamlet, in every dwelling, 
there are minds disturbed, hearts lacerated and bleeding, 
souls haunted with spectres of endless wo, which come 
in the daylight, and in the darkness of night, and poison 
every cup of enjoyment. 

This is no idle fiction, no empty declamation, but it 
nas its foundation in sober fact, and that you may better 
appreciate its truth, I will make the application to your 
own city. The past has been a cold and dreary winter 
of suffering. Shivering limbs, and hungry children 
have been around us, and called for charity. It has also 
been a season of most extraordinary religious excitement. 
Churches have been thronged from the dawn of morn- 
ing to the dark hour of midnight, and all that mighty 
minds and commanding eloquence could do has been 
done to excite the public mind, and alarm the fears of 
the people. The public mind has been excited, and the 
most dreadful fears have been aroused. And now, which 
think you, has produced most unhappiness in this city, 
during the last four months, poverty and want — or re- 
ligious excitement ? Could you but lift the veil from 
the public mind, and follow the multitude from the 



jl RELIGIOUS DUTY, 



scene of excitement to their homes could you Know 
their musings upon the way, their dread forebodings in 
the family circle, their painful meditations upon the bed 
in the silence of night, the wretched anxieties of parents 
for their children, of children for their parents, of all for 
themselves ; the sombre musings of those who by a law 
of the human mind, are precipitated from the pinnacle 
of hope to the valley of despair : from the fire of over- 
heated excitement, to the frost and cold of utter indiffer- 
ence ; could you see all this, as it exists in reality around 
you, I doubt not you would agree with me in the opinion 
that the actual misery caused by poverty and bodily dis- 
tress, severe as it has been, has nevertheless been light 
and small, when compared with that which has proceed- 
ed from mental anxieties, caused by a false and spurious 
theology. This has opened the deepest fountains of hu- 
man wo, and called out more sighs and tears than all the 
frosts and snows of a cold and blustering winter, and all 
the pains of stern necessity and want. 

I say then, that the happiness of community at large, 
calls upon every man who desires the felicity of his fellow- 
creatures around him, not to halt between two opinions, 
but to choose whom he will serve ; and having made hise 
choice, to lend his aid and influence in staying the deso- 
lating march of error, and in rolling back that deep tide 
of misery, that now flows over the land, and darkens alJ 
the face of human society. I tell you that the doctrine? 
of the Gospel of impartial grace, afford the only anti- 
dote to these evils. The power of infidelity has been 
tried, and has failed. Indifference and skepticism are 
but a poor shield against these enemies of our peace. It 
is a fixed and settled faith in the God and Saviour of all, 
and that alone, that can check the rising fear, dispel the 
gloomy doubt, hush the anxious thought, and yield con 
19* 



222 



DECISION OF CHARACTER, 



tinual peace. In the midst, of all this wild uproar and 
eonfusion — this commotion of the elements, and this un- 
settling of the usual foundations of confidence in God 
and his gracious care — this triumph of fear when the 
public mind, unmoored from its fastenings, has been 
driven at the mercy of the furious winds of fanaticism, 
how has it fared with the steadfast believer in God's 
boundless grace, and in the ultimate felicity of a world ? 
Why, he has stood firmly upon a rock that could not be 
moved. Calm and tranquil as the bosom of the placid 
waters, sleeping in sunlight, and undisturbed by the 
winds, has been his mind. No anxious fears, no doubts 
of gloomy aspect, no dread forebodings of hopeless wo, 
have disturbed his noonday walks, or his midnight 
slumbers. When all around him ha^ been a scene of 
mental anxiety, and despair has stalked abroad with a 
wild and haggard look, he has been at peace. He has 
looked up to God. There all his hopes have centered ; 
and though storms and tempests have been around him, 
he has feared no evil ; for he knoweth that the rod and 
the staff of the Almighty, shall suppoit and guide 
him, and with him, all his fearful, doubting fellows, 
safely to the haven of rest. I call on you, then, as the 
friends of human happiness, to choose this day whom ye 
will serve. " If the Lord be God follow him ; but if 
Baal, then follow him." 

But the public morals are concerned in this matter. I 
nave more than once said, that love to God, and good 
will to man, lie at the foundation of all true morality, 
and I have shown that faith in God, as an impartial 
friend and Saviour, and a belief that man, universally, 
is our brother, is far better calculated to make men love 
God and one another, than any other faith. With 
these views, it will appear that the whole system of 



4 RELIGIOUS DUTY. 



22E 



effort for moral reform, is wrong and powerless It all 
rests upon the position, that man is to be governed by 
his fears, and driven to duty, as the trembling slave 
with the lash. For ages men have sought to drive 
their fellows to virtue with the war-club of dam- 
nation, rather than to entice them with the olive-branch 
of peace. But after all, sin abounds more and more. 
The principle has been long and faithfully tried, and its 
inefficiency is written upon the face of society, and upon 
the history of the world. 

I appeal to you, if it is not time that something else 
were adopted, even if it be for nothing else than an ex- 
periment. Long has man been driven with the lash of 
fear ; it is high time to try the constraining influence of 
love and mercy. Long has man been treated as a 
slave ; it is time to begin to treat him as a child, and win 
him to virtue by the tenderness of a father's kindness. 
Long, too long, have the teachers in Israel sought to drive 
human nature out of man, by some sudden and myste- 
rious change, and too plainly is the fact written out upon 
the face of society, that the attempt has failed, utterly 
failed, and that maugre all the " new hearts " that men 
get, human nature will be human nature after all, and 
the new heart is not unfrequently as bad, or perhaps 
worse, than the old one. It is time for the moralist to 
cease his war upon human nature, and instead of labour- 
ing to pluck up the tree let him seek to prune it, and 
train and cultivate its branches, that it may grow up in 
fair proportions, and flourish in its beauty, and bring 
forth abundantly the peaceable fruits o f righteousness. 

Bigotry and all uncharitableness, abound in the land. 
Strife and contention are rife around us, and so it will be 
as long ?s that worst of all aristocracies, a religious aris- 
tocracy, exists, and lifts the few above the many, by 



224 



DECISION OF CHARACTER. 



allowing them to claim a monopoly of the blessings of 
God, and of heaven itself. The moral wants of man 
call for a system that shall level all the proud distinc- 
tions of earth, and break down the separating walls of 
partition, that have so long and so injuriously separated 
man from his fellow man. Such a system is Universal- 
ism. It seeks to lead men rather than drive them with 
the lash. It wars not with nature, but seeks to improve 
and direct its course, and rear it up to its perfection. It 
teaches that God is our Father, and man everywhere 
our brother — places all on one common level — promises 
all one common inheritance, and asks us to love God 
and serve him, by being kind to his creatures, and our 
brethren. Thus it curbs the head long passions, breaks 
down the pride of the haughty, and infuses into the 
heart "that love which shows itself in works of kindness, 
justice, mercy, charity and benevolence. 

But there is another view to be taken of this subject 
The present is emphatically an age of excitement. The 
heaving elements of mind are in commotion around us. 
There is excitement in the political waters. There is 
excitement in the monetary system. There is excite- 
ment in the literary world ; and look where you will, 
excitement is there. I need not speculate upon the 
cause. It may be but the natural erlect of the recent 
liberation of the human mind from the chains and fet- 
ters which had bound it for ages. As the eagle, long 
imprisoned, when let loose from his cage, will soar aloft 
to wet his wings in the clouds of heaven, and gaze upon 
the full orbed glories of the sun — now scaling the lofty 
mountain's top, and now darting with incredible velocity 
down its rugged sides. So the human mind, long cramp- 
ed and fettered, is liberated, and it is stretched to its ut- 
most tension, and riots in all the luxury of its newly 



A RELIGIOUS .DUTY. 



225 



discovei ed liberty. Whether this be the cause or not, 
the fact is certain, and blind must be the mind that can 
look abroad, and not discover a morbid spirit of excita- 
bility which pushes to every extreme, and threatens to 
end in anarchy and confusion. I appeal to you, if there 
is not need of some voice, that shall speak to the ele 
ments, as the Saviour once spoke to the boisterous waves, 
saying, " Peace ! be still ! " that a holy and heavenly calm 
may ensue. And if so, I ask, where can that voice be 
found ? Is it in the popular systems of the day ? Alas ! 
they also live in the atmosphere of excitement, and flour- 
ish only there. Their advocates have seized upon this 
very feature of the age, to urge on their sectarian schemes. 
Religion, too, has become a matter of excitement. In- 
stead of restraining the passions, and the workings of 
this spirit of excitability? it is made to live in excitement, 
and to feed that very morbid appetite, that it ought to 
deny. 

Universalism seeks to check the workings of this 
spirit of evil. It appeals not to the passions, but to the 
understanding. It asks men to examine with calmness, 
to decide with candor and deliberation, and to act w r ith 
prudenct, firmness, and circumspection. It seeks to 
make men calm, consistent, and reasonable. And I ask, 
is there not need of some influence to counteract that 
wild spirit of excitement, which marks the character of 
the age, and runs riot in every department of society ? 
If so, then "how long halt ye between two opinions? 
If the Lord be God follow him, but if Baal, then follow 
him." 

But, alas ! men who profess to believe in God, and to 
reject the claims-of Baal, have a thousand excuses and 
apologies, for neglecting to manifest their faith by thei 
works. 



226 



DECISION OF CHARACTER, 



This man is a merchant, and he knows, that a profes- 
sion of the popular dogmas of the day, will secure him 
custom, so he bows down at the shrine of Baal, though 
he believes him to be no more than an idol. That man 
is a Physician, and he knows that a profession of faith 
will get him patients, so he professes with his mouth, 
what he does not believe in his heart. Another man is 
a politician, and he wants votes. He thinks, if he speaks 
what he thinks, it may injure him, and so he becomes 
all things to all men, and will bow at the altars of God 
or Baal, as happens to be most convenient. Another 
man, still, says he has a great show of charity. He be- 
lieves indeed in Universalism, but he is no bigot, and in 
the excess of his charity, he forgets to be honest. He 
gives his means and his influence, to support doctrines 
which he says he knows to be false. He says he be- 
lieves in Universalism, and yet from week to week, and 
from sabbath to sabbath, he sits under the preaching of 
the man who denounces Universalism, as the vilest of 
heresies, and gives all his influence against it, because he 
is no bigot, and he wishes to be charitable ! ! He may 
be no bigot, but he certainly is not far from a hypocrite. 
In the political world, if a man should profess to agree 
with one party, and yet do all he could to advance the 
interests of the other, he would be scouted from both. 
And yet in religion, men will fawn around the painted 
hypocrite of this sort, and urge him to go to this church 
or that, well knowing that the man is belying his con- 
science, and therefore sinning against G-od. But I can- 
not dwell longer. 

I take this occasion to express my satisfaction to this 
large assembly, for that patient attention with which 
they have listened to this protracted discussion. And I 
call on you as honest men and women, as fathers and 



A RELIGIOUS DUTY. 227 

mothers, as citizens and friends, " Choose ye this day, 
whom ye will serve. If the Lord be God, then follow 
him ; but if Baal, then follow him." Amen and 
Amen. 



THIS £3 ft, 



NEW YORK 

UNIVERSALIST 

. BOOK ESTABLISHMENT, 

No. 7 LE EOT PLACE. 

ON HAND, AND FOR SALE, AS ABOVE, 

WHOLESALE AND RETAIL, 

ALL THE UNIVERSALIST BOOKS IN THE MARKET; 

INCLUDING 

GLASS-BOOKS, CATECHISMS, 

AND ALL INSTRUCTION BOOKS 

FOR OUR SABBATH SCHOOLS, 

AND BOOKS SUITABLE FOR SABBATH SCHOOL 
LIBRARIES. 



Orders solicited and promptly answered by the 

undersigned, 

HENRY XYON. 

h i23 82^ 













Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
% Treatment Date: May 2006 



PreservationTechnologies 

A iiinoi r> i ctncD iu o a a c a DDcecDUATinu 



A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 
1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724) 779-2111 




